Teach Me to Dance
by aLittleOblivion
Summary: The brave up-and-coming rooky in the best fire company in Fiore, Natsu can face down the hottest and most dangerous fires without any trepidation, but when it comes to capturing the heart of the girl he's enamored by, he keeps falling short. To show her his gentleman side he sets out to learn to dance. Along the way, his heart begins to beat not for the girl, but for his teacher.
1. Salamander

Disclaimer: I know it, you know it, but hey, let's say it any way. I do not own any rights or even the smallest piece of Fairy Tail. Let's just take a moment and thank the great Hiro Mashima, without whom we wouldn't have such a fun story and I wouldn't have the chance to try my own writer's hand in a Fairy Tail tale. Also, I did not create or own the idea of Jeryy from D. Grayman. But, the following is my own creation, using the amazing characters created in these stories. Enjoy.

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 **Chapter 1: Salamander**

Smoke writhed through the empty office building, coiling and erupting out of the open windows, shrouding the roof in a deathly veil. Glass shattered as a closed window on the third floor gave way to the fire tempest's overwhelming pressure. Red flames licked out of the destruction, tasting the dry wall, scathing its tan surface with black tendrils.

"Whooooeee! She's an angry bitch."

"Yeah, she is." The captain tugged on a headset over his sleeked back purple hair. His mustache wiggled as his brow dropped, the scowl lines etching his face like a worn sandstone, drained and whipped by the wind. He glanced back at the two rookies in the back seat. Scanning over the young fresh faces, he was satisfied to see the readiness shining in their eyes. Seeing a full scale fire with the knowledge that you would soon be fighting it head to head had left many unraveled. To be honest, he had expected the blond girl to be staring wide eyed, and yet she was sitting there calmly prepared, readying herself toward the rapidly approaching building.

The pink haired boy next to her shook with excitement, his knees bouncing. That boy . . . it was safe to say that he wouldn't be frozen in abject terror. In fact, if anything, the captain was more worried about the boy's unbounded ambition and what the captain could only describe as pure joy. That type of attitude could be just as – more than – dangerous than fear. "Natsu! Settle down right now!" Next to the pink haired boy, his old friend chuckled, chomping on the bit of his pipe.

The driver laughed as well, his shoulders bouncing slightly as he guided the behemoth of the fire truck screaming into the blocked off parking lot of the long-abandoned tech building. "Come on, Macao, he's just happy."

"Hmph," the captain settled back into his seat. "Yeah, he is, and that'll get us all killed in there." His door opened with a click. Turning back to look at the black-haired driver, Macao drilled into his expressionless face. "He's on you, Zeref. Make sure your fool brother doesn't get anyone hurt."

"Like I can control that pyro," Zeref mumbled as the captain jumped out of the truck. His younger brother had already shoved his way out of the backseat and was staring up at the engulfed building with an awed reverence. Slamming the metal door shut behind him, Zeref jogged over to his brother who was trembling with excitement. Laying a hand on his shoulder, he offered the jubilant kid a warm smile. "This is it, Natsu. This is what you've been waiting for." He smacked the back of Natsu's helmet, "go kick that bitch's ass!"

Macao shot him a glare as the rookies, led by the stalwart lieutenant, his old wooden pipe's butt sticking out from his coat pocket, sprang into action. Zeref just shrugged as he made his way to the pumps, grinning as his back turned to the captain.

Natsu grinned ferally, slapping old Wakaba on the back as he shouldered on the emergency pack over his bulky jacket. He glanced at Lucy, inclining his head. She immediately turned away and looked to the inferno devouring the four-floor office building.

The pink haired firefighter sighed, but when he returned his gaze to the fire, his soul ignited again, burning everything else away.

"Nothing fancy kids," the captain gruffly called into their headsets, "just a straight douse and drown her."

"Yeah, ye-"

A shrilling shriek split the air. Every one of the group's eyes snapped to the building.

"Sh—anyone got eyes on—"

"Fourth floor, far right!"

"Shi-Dragneel!"

Natsu, in a full sprint, swung and latched an oxygen mask over his face, two steps before body slamming into the front door. He disappeared into the doomed building, falling with the door broken free from its hinges.

"Wakaba!"

"I'm on it," came a swift reply from the senior officer as the black clasp of his oxygen mask snapped in the headset. "Damn rook."

After yanking an axe free from the truck, Wakaba took off in a jog toward the building, the long wooden handle bobbing with each step over his shoulder. "That guy really has no brain," the blond trainee mumbled. Turning with a huff, she hoisted the massive weight of hose onto her shoulder and trudged to the sidewalk corner.

Flicking off his headset, Zeref glanced to the blond retreating to the street. "She knows that was over the COM, right?"

"Hmph." Macao adjusted his hard hat, turning to help the older Dragneel adjust the pumps.

"Poor bastard. The guy has been hooked on her since they started training." Sighing, Zeref turned some dials, regulating the pressure as the connection was made with the hydrant.

There were many things that one could say about the Dragneel brothers, their nature to be polar opposites, Zeref a cool minded genius who enjoyed nothing more than to play the game he found life to be, Natsu, hot blooded, rash, ready-for-action, but the bravest and truest friend. Their yin-yang when it came to others. The older black-haired boy loved nothing more than seclusion, observing, and playing a hand from afar, whereas his younger counterpart would dive straight into any social situation. While it was never clear what Zeref was thinking, Natsu only took one look to see his thoughts, plain upon his face as a realist painting. But, the one thing that stood out more than any else was their deep love for each other.

Sure, Zeref would goad Natsu on, but that was because he knew the fiery heart of his younger brother and he would do nothing if not to help him get what it burned for. Sighing again, Zeref raked his fingers through his hair, taking in each of the spinning numbers off of the dial and instantly shifting the pumps accordingly. At least, Zeref figured, Natsu wouldn't have heard her. As soon as his brother had heard that scream there would be nothing anyone could do to shake his single-minded determination. Say what they would about his brother's intelligence, he's a genuine born hero.

In the staircase at the third floor landing, Natsu stared at the fallen wooden beams from the floor above. They effectively blocked off his access to the higher floors. If it wasn't for his bulky gear, Natsu could have slid through, but he at least had enough sense to know that wasn't an option.

"Having trouble, kid?" Wakaba shrugged the axe off his shoulder and dropped the handle into energetic youth's shaking palms. "Caught up with the rook, clearing an obstruction at third, fourth in ten," the lieutenant informed the captain while Natsu swung the axe with a fury into the wood.

In three minutes, the fire-weakened beams gave way, splintering and splitting to Natsu's wrath as sure as a mythological dragon's unbidden rage. "We're through," Wakaba continued to inform the captain as he ducked through the small opening behind Natsu.

The rooky seemed to Wakaba to be as pure in energy as the fire, but a nagging thought buzzed in the back of his skull. There was so much that could go wrong, and even being an experienced fighter didn't mean they would get out unscathed. And while Natsu's energy and determination were inspiring, there was an irritation clawing at him that Natsu's leap first and then leap again mindset was not going to pan out well for the two of them.

But his fears were quickly cooled within the burning building, the heat within his suit climbing above Death Valley in midday summer. The fresh rook crouched next to the furthest door of the corridor, pounding his gloved fist against the wood so he could be heard. And when there was a sobbing reply, Natsu's voice was icy cold, rattling a list of details into the COM.

"Ambient heat normal, door cool, no smoke, high chance fire hasn't reached, smoke down hall black, not darkest, chance of flash as low as it gets. Waiting on the go."

"That's a go, rook, get her and get out, third floor getting dicier each minute."

"Aye." Slamming his thickly coated shoulder into the heavy door, Natsu stumbled for a few steps into the room until he was able to right himself against the massive weight of the large oxygen tank strapped to his back.

A shrilling scream pierced their ears, but allowed them to immediately narrow in on a pre-teen girl, packed into the corner of the room, her small arms shaking, wrapped around her legs.

Natsu crouched down, offering the small girl a large gloved palm. "It's okay, I'm a firefighter, we are going to get out of here." The girl jumped at Natsu, nearly toppling him over. She grabbed onto his chest for dear life, burying her face into his ash-strewn jacket.

Wakaba sighed. This was something about that pink-haired rook, his wear-everything-on-the-surface attitude made him so easy to believe in and love. At least that meant they wouldn't be dealing with an hysterical child on the way back down – the flame-brain had his uses. Wakaba chuckled to himself as he grabbed Natsu's shoulder and jerked his head back to the door.

Natsu just nodded back, wrapping his arms around the small, frightened girl. "Everything's going to be okay." Patting the back of her head, Natsu held her close and calmly whispered, "just stay with me, you'll be fine." With that, he hefted her into the air, keeping her sheltered close to his chest as they walked back into the hallway.

"Getting thick," Wakaba let out a choked cough into the headset.

Natsu just grunted, squeezing the girl tighter. He cold barely see a foot in front of his face. The air itself seemed ready to catch fire, surrendering to the oppressive weight of the deathly smoke. Together, the two firefighters fell into a crouch, the wall of rolling blackness skimming just above their helmets. Natsu took a slow light breath of the pure fresh oxygen from his mask.

The small girl coughed into his jacket. The pink haired fighter rubbed her back reassuringly as they walked in a rough crouched gait, slowly progressing to the stairwell. The girl's coughs grew even more ragged as they moved. Cursing silently in his head, Natsu fought desperately against the instinct pounding in his blood, the burning desire to rip the oxygen mask from his face and give it to the panicked girl. His training stabbed in his mind while his heart burned. He couldn't compromise his own breathing. It was like on a plane – if the capable do not secure their own ability to stay conscious, then everyone is doomed. She coughed, quaking in his arms. Damn it all. Natsu redoubled his pace, extending his legs at the stairs and flying down the floors.

Bursting out into the open air, Natsu immediately set on the ambulance parked just next to the bold red defiant fire truck, its back doors strewn open. On its edge sat two EMT's, who immediately jumped off the bumper and tugged out a collapsed stretcher. Its shining metal legs sprang down as it fell from the height of the ambulance, locking into place atop wheels which squeaked noisily in protest as they jogged toward Natsu. He tenderly laid her down on the uncomfortably stiff white top.

"Smoke inhalation, moderate, conscious. How you doing, kid?" The slightly older paramedic with hair as white as snow offered her a warm smile as he gently laid his fingertips around her thin wrist. The girl shivered at the touch of his skin, as cold and foreign as ice. He smiled warmer, glancing to his colleague, "heartbeat's strong, she'll be fine." Pulling a stethoscope from his pocket he laid the circular metal end to the girl's chest. He performed his entire inspection, walking beside the stretcher at a quick clip with his partner back to the ambulance's open breath.

Natsu grabbed the other EMT's arm as he pushed the back end of the stretcher into the ambulance, before he could hop in behind it. His cold blue eyes darted back under raven bangs. "Cool that fire-for-brains you have, Natsu. She'll be fine. We are just going to take her to the hospital for some minor treatment. We'll make sure she doesn't develop any lung problems." With that, he tugged his arm away and slammed the ambulance doors shut.

Natsu's fist curled to his side. Damn droopy-eyed bastard! Of all the paramedics on call of course it had to be him. Staring at the ambulance as it retreated the parking lot, Natsu cursed that blue-eyed demon. At least, that was the way he always thought of him. Something about that man drove him nuts, ever since they first met in the FT. It was like they were complete opposites, two opposing forces of nature who couldn't stand the presence of the other. But, he was loath to admit that the girl would be fine in his hands. Damn bastard was good at what he did – if only he wasn't such a frigid icy idiot. Natsu turned to stalk back to the truck. Never mind that stripping habit.

Yet again, that burned out of his mind when he turned to see the fire and the battle being waged between its single-minded desire to burn and thrive and five warriors set to defend the world from its wrath. "How's it going?"

"She's on the run," Zeref replied, flipping switches just as quickly as the pump dials changed. "Macao and Wakaba are fighting it back on the inside, and carrying out a search for anyone else as they advance. Lucy's dousing her. Natsu," the older brother glanced up from his dials only for a second and smiled, "good work."

Natsu nodded with a grin, jogging back into the building and diving right back into the fray.

It was well into the afternoon before the fire laid down to die. The five fighters sat back on the rough blacktop, three of them bathed in black ash. The white skin protected by the oxygen masks and helmets stood in utter contrast against the dark. Natsu and Lucy, leaned back on their hands, laughing hysterically, the relief of making it through their first burner evident on their faces.

The captain smiled at them. That first fire was an experience, one that changed everything you were. It was the moment where you found out what lay within your heart, balanced on a knife's edge, if you could do what you always dreamed and stand up to slay a dragon or collapse, running in fear. It was the same as in war. There was no learning. You either were born a smokeeater or you weren't. "Good job, rooks. Congratulations. Oh, and Natsu," Macao slammed his fist down on the now black-haired boy's thick skull, "don't you ever go rushing in head-first again!"

"Ow," Natsu pouted, rubbing his head gingerly. A grumbling groan from Natsu's stomach filled the air. Instantly forgetting the dull pain in his head, he grinned broadly, patting his stomach and freeing a small cloud of dusty ash from his jacket. "Let's go home, and eaaat!" Next to him, Zeref stifled a chuckle, hiding a smile behind the back of his hand.

And eat they did. Natsu tore into the food on the table that night with a furor even he hadn't managed until then. Everyone stared at him silently, awkwardly watching as food flew into his mouth, and just as often in the chaotic hurricane he called eating, flew past his face and splattered on the plain wall behind him.

"Oh, man, tell me there's some food left."

"Hey, Gray."

"Gray-sama!" Juvia jumped up onto the bench, her head darting back and forth causing her long springy blue bangs to sway as she tried in vain to find a clear path around everyone to her beloved beau. Huffing, she sat back down at the table with a thump. She would have to remember next time to never let herself get pressed into a corner.

Gray smiled uneasily, thanking the lords that she was trapped. Walking over to the kitchen, he was greeted with a wide toothy smile and the ever boisterously happy Jeryy. The cook's long pink hair was split into two strips, wrapped tightly in cords, and rigidly framing his back. He flipped a massive wok in his hand over a scorching fire kissing the cast-iron, sending a mountain of fried rice, teriyaki chicken, and something green tumbling into the air. Without breaking eye contact with Gray, he twirled around, picking up a plate from the granite counter as he spun, and caught the mountain squarely in the center of the white enameled plate. "Here you are!"

"Thanks Jeryy. Crazy night?"

"Whooo boy! You have no idea! That pink-haired boy sure knows how to make my heart sing!" Holding a large ladle to his chest, the cook looked skyward, stars twinkling in his black eyes.

Gray decided to just let it slide. He never could figure out Jeryy's love of that flame-brain. But, he guessed that's what a cook lives for, to see others enjoying the result of their skill and labor. And no one enjoyed that better than the bottomless pit that was Natsu. Carefully balancing his mountain wobbling atop his plate, Gray slid back into the dining hall and sidled onto an empty seat next to a beast of a man.

That man's arm was thicker – Gray was pretty sure – than his entire body. He never really left the gym, except for when he got called. Imposing as he was, this man was as nice as he was simple to understand. Long white side burns cut down to his sharp jaw lending an even more beastly appearance. With such a look, Gray was sure when he had first met him that he was undoubtedly nicknamed hulk or wolverine, or something to that effect, so it came as quite a shock when he had first heard Fire Chief Gildarts call him Elfman. Apparently, the bulking man had rushed into a nativity scene on Christmas Eve. A fire had broken out from some faulty electrical wires in good ol' Rudolph's nose and had lit up the entire sleigh. Well, as the story was told to him, Elfman single-handedly managed to save everyone but somehow managed in the confusion to get covered with the torn clothes of Santa's helpers.

Gray sighed over his mountain before digging in. At least it was better than his own nickname. Stripper. Gods, he should have seen that one coming too, and he still had a grudge to settle with the Fire Chief's daughter for starting it.

Captain Macao nodded to him as he took a hill-sized chomp off of the stir-fry mountain. "Everything go smooth?"

"Yeah," Gray waved his fork around in the air, "girl should be just fine. Parents are with her. Going to be staying overnight just to make sure she's breathing normally, but Lyon and I didn't find anything wrong." Gray glanced to the pink-haired boy wildly devouring his food. "She said there was a group of them playing in the abandoned building – older brother brought her along. They were playing with sparklers. Not a very nice group of kids, scared the poor thing with the fireworks until she ran and hid." Rolling his tongue along the inside of his cheek, he added, "she said to say thank you to the firefighter who saved her. You're the bravest," Gray growled internally, though he promised to deliver the message, "most amazing, strong, awesome hero she had ever met." Successfully avoiding choking on his tongue and to dart Natsu's burning green eyes, Gray dived back into his food without another second missed.

"Who's a hero?" Old man Gildarts with all the presence of a king and a notorious rogue rolled into one stepped through the hall, his prosthetic leg he had lost in the infamous red night thunked oddly on the concrete floor with every other step.

"That would be our little rook here. Natsu, rushed straight in, four flights, and rescued a small girl."

"Ha!" Gildarts smacked the boy's back, sending a painfully loud slap ringing through the hall. Everyone winced in sympathy. Natsu just looked up and beamed a toothy grin to his mentor – a man who was the closest thing he had to a father. "That's showin' um, good job, kid!" His deep laugh boomed.

Wakaba leaned back against the wall, lighting his old wooden pipe, sucking in three light puffs from its long stem. "Should have seen the kid in action, chief. Cool as a mountain lake. That fire was afraid of him, wouldn't even come close. Damn near like a god among its element. Like a fire drake."

"Fire drake, huh?" Macao scratched his chin, nodding as his fist slammed the wooden table sending plates, glasses, and forks clattering. "Sounds good to me. Good job, Salamander!"

"To Salamander!" Everyone agreed, raising their glasses.

Gray just groaned. Salamander. Helluvalot better than stripper. He'd just come into training when Gray was finishing, and now he had joined their family. But, Gray didn't let his own irritation play for long. The kid had acted amazing. He really was a hero. And he had very well saved that little girl's life. No, he deserved this. "To Salamander!" Gray raised his own glass smiling at the pink haired boy. He blinked a few times. Natsu's eyes were dropped down to the table, a smile playing upon his lips, though his face burned a mottled pink from his cheeks to the tips of his ears. Gray blinked again. Damn, he was fucking cute. Shoveling the last of his food into his mouth, Gray shoved off from the table and bade everyone a goodnight.

It wasn't long before everyone started to turn in. Cana had very effectively drank half of the firehouse under the table and sat happily buzzed, her face a bright red, atop a barrel in the corner of room. Everyone had either passed out or left to get what sleep they could – especially those high up on the on-call list. Zeref patted his brother's shoulder congratulating him one more time on his first fire.

Natsu smiled in return, though his eyes lingered on Lucy. The blond had just cleaned her plate and was walking out the door. Beside him, Zeref chuckled, digging his elbow into his younger brother. "Jeez, could you want her more?"

"Mmmm." Natsu turned back to his glass of beer, running his thumbs over the rim of its clear lip. "She didn't even say anything. I was kinda hoping . . ."

"Hmmm," the older and very entertained brother leaned back against the wall, thinking. "What about dancing?"

Natsu about choked on his beer. "What the heck are you talking about?"

Zeref just shrugged, his face as calm and void of emotion as always. "You've shown her you're a badass hero, have to also show her you are a fine-classed respectable gentleman." Zeref barely managed to get those words out without choking from his internal laughter. Just picturing Natsu trying to act like a gentleman, in a tux, gently dancing with a girl was too much. Though, he managed to keep it below the surface. "There is that celebration coming up. Really the only time we ever get dressed up. Gildarts becoming chief and on top of that, the recruits officially becoming firefighters. What better night could you ask for?"

Sure, everyone already called Gildarts the chief, but he would not assume the mantle until the new year. Though, it was only October, in reality he was already the chief, the tiny old former chief Makarov advancing to commissioner. But hell if they weren't going to celebrate it. They were family.

"Dance, huh?" Natsu bit his lip, staring at the golden brown liquid in his glass. Turning to Zeref, his eyes begged as he asked, "can you teach me how to dance?"

Zeref's inner laughter died on a beat. He frowned. So much for that amusement. "Natsu, I don't dance."

Letting out a huff of air, Natsu shook his head. Of course his older brother didn't dance. That would involve being close and intimate with another. And that definitely wasn't the brother he knew and loved. He sighed, "I don't know how to dance."

"You could ask the stripper."

"What!?"

"Yeah, I hear from his bunk-mate – you know, Cance . . . the guy with the afro – he told me that he saw Gray dance once. Apparently he's unbelievable, the best."

Natsu scowled at his drink. The damn droopy-eyed bastard? But, if it meant he could get a chance with Lucy, he'd do it. And if he was going to do it, he was going to do it right and learn from the best then. "Alright." Pushing himself from the table, Natsu made for the door.

Zeref sat back, the only person really conscious in the room. He grinned, laughing to himself. Natsu dancing – this was going to get good.

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A/N: There are very few people I consider to be heroes, but firefighters truly are. I respect and am awed by how amazing they are, and are so underappreciated.

If anyone has worked as or volunteered for the fire department, I would love a chance to talk to you. I want to get the details right and sometimes research just isn't enough. Let me know if anything is wrong or if you would just like to talk. And thank you for all that you do.

Side note: The only non-Fairy Tail character in this story is the cook, Jeryy. Always thought that if he loved the way Allen Walker eats, he would be in bliss with Natsu too. Unfortunately, can't have both of them, so I thought it'd be fun to have him cook for Natsu for a change.


	2. A Jazz Soul

**Chapter 2: A Jazz Soul**

Gray leaned back against the cold wall of his room, one leg tented up to his chest, the other falling over the side of his bed, his toe trailing the shaggy carpeted floor. A young cat, its fur a shining midnight black glistening with blue highlights, nestled against Gray's hip, purring softly as it lolled along with Gray's musician's soul. Eyes closed, the EMT let himself drift away with the currents of soft jazz trumpet beating and squeezing the heart, pressing every note for all the emotions they were worth. Along with the trumpet pumping out from his speakers, Gray added his own soul into the music with the weaving pure tones of his golden tenor sax.

His lips caressed the hard black mouthpiece, the sax becoming more than an instrument in the night. In Gray's hands it was an extension of his heart, the tones washing with color. The deep rolling waves of woodwind timbre melded with the trumpet filling his bedroom in pure emotion. Drawing low, Gray dove in with the waves of soulful horn, circling it with a warm breath of life.

He loved this time. As much as everything else mattered to him throughout the day, it was here, alone with his sax that he felt alive, truly connected with the world he had been thrown into. Connections were hard for Gray, ever since his mother had died in that fire, and then his foster-mother . . . Gray had felt like the entire beat of space and time was foreign to him, like it had rejected him. His life had been spent in pursuit of dreams, chased by nightmares, keeping it all below an icy surface and a fake smile when a wall turned him down. Only his foster-brother, Lyon, knew about Gray's true feelings, but even then not fully. Maybe it was the freedom jazz offered, the ability to open himself up without any falsities or pretense, that appealed to Gray. Regardless, he felt his heart open and spill out all he was through the burning smokey tones of his tenor sax.

On the bed, his midnight blue cat mewed, stretching its paws over the bedsheet, kneading its claws as its back arched in a deep bow. With its tail flicking in the air, it jumped off the side of the bed, landing on the carpet with an inaudible thud underneath the mosaic of dense tones. He padded to the door, taking a seat and staring intensely with black opal eyes at the locked handle. It cocked its head slightly.

A hard wooden knock broke the perfectly melding souls. Gray frowned, suddenly thrown back into his body. His eyelids parted over dark roiling blue emotional eyes with depth like a starry night over a glass ocean. Irritatingly, Gray's lips parted from the mouthpiece, his heart closing back, safe behind its normal shell. Squeezing the door handle, Gray didn't even attempt to hide his irritation at being interrupted to whoever was on the other side.

Natsu blinked several times as the door swung inward, his lips twitching in an awkward smile. But then his burning green eyes refocused, and the corners bent. "Hey, Gray, I have a . . . was that you playing?" A strikingly cute dark blue cat weaved its way around his boots, purring throatily as it rubbed its back against Natsu's leg. Smiling warmer, Natsu knelt to a crouch, dropping his hand and offering it to the small cat. After it sniffed his fingers, it rolled its fuzzy head into his palm.

Gray's eyebrow crooked, staring at his cat. Happy didn't like anyone save Gray. His blue eyes scanned over the pink-haired boy in his doorframe as his fingers trailed through Happy's blue fur. Weird. "Come in."

Nestling the small cat over his forearm, Natsu cradled him into the room. "Cool cat." He chose from the get-go to not bring up the fact that Gray was in nothing but a tight pair of blue Calvin Klein boxer briefs. Dutifully keeping his eyes locked on the cat, Natsu tried to divert himself from the stripper. Gray had an unbelievable body – even Natsu had to admit, who never once considered another man attractive – his smooth skin rippling with hard taught muscle. The FT station mark tattooed in a rich deep blue upon his hard chest gleamed in juxtaposition to his pale skin.

That mark, Natsu had been waiting for the day he would receive his. It was a tradition within the FT firehouse, a mark received at the end of training, a mark that said to the world you were the best of the best. A mark that meant you were a part of a family who would have your back for the rest of your life. The pink haired rooky already decided he would get his upon his shoulder and carry it with him like a badge of honor.

"Yeah, he is. What do you want?"

"I wanted to ask . . ." Natsu's eyes scanned the mostly barren room, its tones dark, highlighted with a myriad of blues, like ice at the bottom of a shadowed pool. They locked onto three stands of instruments, three saxophones, each smaller than the last in a line next to the dresser. While the two larger ones were a gilded burning gold, the smallest of the three shown silver, of pure, white gold moonlight. He smiled fiercer. "So it was you playing! You are fantastic, it sounded so beautiful. I seriously didn't think I could move, it was like I completely forgot I had a body."

Blushing lightly, his pale cheeks burning a faint pink, Gray sat down on his bed, staring hard at the pink-haired rook. "Thanks, now what is it you want?"

"I heard . . . I wanted to ask you if . . . who is that playing the trumpet?" Natsu took a quick 360 of the room but found no other instruments.

Gray sighed, rubbing at the irritation in his cold blue eyes. This guy had the attention span of a freaking gnat, his thoughts immediately taking a fork in the road with the flitter of a bird's wings. Or a Siberian husky, Gray amended to himself silently, noting from experience, and, after all, the guy was damn cute too. "Miles Davis, best trumpet player ever, now –"

"Sorry," Natsu distractedly ran his fingers through the fur buried in the crook of his arm. The cat nestled its head against his chest, purring softly. "It's kind of weird . . . uhh, could you teach me how to dance?"

Blinking repeatedly, Gray froze on his bed, his gaze wide. "What?"

"I need to learn how to dance for the promotion celebration coming up." When Gray didn't respond, Natsu quickly admitted, "I want a chance to dance with Luce, nothing is more romantic than that and it might give me a chance –"

"Pass."

"What?"

Reaching up, Gray fished Happy out between the pink-haired firefighter's arms, bringing him tight into his chest. "No interest."

Immediately falling into a child-like sulk, Natsu pouted, leaning a hand on the dresser next to him, shifting his weight. "But I don't know how to dance, and I hear you are the best."

Scowling, the raven-haired EMT stared at Natsu frigidly. "Who told you that?"

"Uhh," Natsu raked his fingers back through his pink spiky hair, "my brother told me, he said that Cance had—"

"Cance," damn that stupid afro-wannabe-barber-roommate of his. For his sake, it was best if he didn't return from his drunken stupor to their room that night. "I don't dance."

"But-"

"I don't dance, now get out."

"But-" The door slammed shut in front of his face. He blinked several times, at a complete loss, what the hell? Sure, Gray had never exactly been friendly with him, hell, they fought constantly, but Natsu'd never seen the guy get so cold so quick on flick of a switch.

Inside Gray fell back onto his bed with a huff. The irritation palpable in the air, Gray jerked his alto sax free from its stand and leaned back against his bedroom wall again.

"Natsu? What's wrong?"

The pink-haired rook huffed out a tight breath of air, slamming the door to his room behind him before throwing himself onto his bed. That freakin' hurt. Natsu had tried not to let it get to him, but along the short walk to his room his mood had deteriorated steadily and rapidly. It didn't help that he heard fast growling tones, higher than before, fill the air around Gray's room. Twisting, to face the ceiling, Natsu just sighed out his frustration. "Gray said he wouldn't teach me."

Zeref sat up a little, adjusting his back on the wall, placing a small torn scrap of paper in his book before closing it. "Okay, and you get this pissed just because he said no?"

"No." Staring hard at the ceiling, a fire burned in Natsu's green eyes as his face set to a scowl. "It's just – he – there wasn't really – I don't know!" Natsu growled, clenching the sheet of his bed in his fingers. "That guy just burns me up! Why the hell did you tell me to go to him?"

The black haired older boy just shrugged, a slight amusing grin dancing upon his lips. "You need to learn, and he's the best around, kiddo."

"Hmph." Turning to his wall, Natsu's frown fell harder as his mind drifted to the one place he hated to go, deeper inside. He couldn't really find a root of his anger. He knew it was unreasonable to feel this pissed, but something inside him couldn't stand it. "Well, he said he's not interested."

"You just need to get him interested then."

"What?"

"Gray's a pretty solitary guy, doesn't interact much with others, but if anyone has any experience dealing with someone like that, it's you. You're a master, after all you've dealt with a high-functioning sociopath your entire life."

That forced a small chuckle out of the frustrated younger brother. High-functioning sociopath, that was Zeref's favorite self description. Hell if he wasn't right, too. Sitting up, Natsu hooked his arm around his bent knee, his skull thunking with the wall. "How do you know so much about him?"

"Well, I trained him. Plus, he's a pretty good friend."

Shaking his head, Natsu's burning eyes locked onto his brother. "You've never referred to anyone as a friend."

Shrugging again, Zeref's lip twitched. "Well then the closest thing to it for me. We are pretty similar," though he added in a faint breath that only Natsu's keen ears could have picked up, "but for very different reasons."

"Really?" Natsu's frown returned, though this time it was but a mask of confusion as he delved back through all the memories he had of the stripper. They fought. Constantly. The only thing that really would ever stop them was Lieutenant Scarlet, but that didn't really count, a scorching burner would sooner lay down and die than come up against her. But, he never really tried to even consider what that icy-stripper was thinking. Now that he thought about it, he never really saw Gray talking to others much.

In fact, their fights were really the most vocal Gray ever was. Besides that everything he said came in two-word answers, that was except for when he was talking with Lyon.

"You should try actually getting to know him, he's pretty chill." Zeref stumbled on his words, barely able to squeeze out the common tongue vernacular that seemed as foreign to him as a distant shore. Though, he'd promised his younger, hot-headed brother that he would try to mingle with people more. He frowned to himself, this was the same as Natsu's struggle. And if he was going to do this, he was going to keep trying. "Why don't you come play tennis with us tomorrow night?"

Stunned, Natsu squinted, examining the man who had all the appearances of his brother. "Since when did you start hitting with him?"

Laughing softly, Zeref rolled his eyes. "Been about a year or so."

"Where the heck was I?"

"You've been absorbed in training, and been pretty focused on that blond lately."

"Hmm." Rolling his tongue over his sharp teeth, Natsu absently inspected the wall behind Zeref as he thought. Honestly, he wasn't too happy that he'd apparently lost the exclusive relationship he had with his older brother. Even if it was he who pushed Zeref into being with others, Natsu felt a pang in his chest. Scoffing at himself, he whipped his head jerkily at his jealousy. "Alright, I'm not going to give up, count me in tomorrow!"

Zeref warmly smiled at the one person he could manage the emotion that portrayed to. He picked up his book, flipping back to his place when he saw the distance grow in his younger brother's fiery green eyes. The guy had been like that since he was a kid. When he was trying to figure something out for himself, he just kind of sank away into himself. While a page flicked from his thumb, he tapped out a quick text.

* * *

Side note:

"Hey, Natsu did you hear?"

"What's that, babe?"

"What the hell are you calling me babe for? We aren't even kinda together."

"Psssh, you know where this is going, so you might as well just accept it and enjoy the ride. I mean do you really think that pervy Oblivion guy is going to write a story with anything but you and me getting together and having hot shmex?"

"Well I guess you got a point there, flame-brain."

"Yup, now what the heck were you going to tell me? Is this about you stealing my cat?"

"Happy's my cat now, deal with it. Ahem . . . Did you notice? I mean they're right there, up on top of the screen. Apparently that Oblivion guy had some spare time on his hands – lazy good for nothing, sheesh – and instead of doing something remotely useful and actually helpful to his career like, I don't know, studying!? he went ahead and decided to teach himself how to draw and color on one of those computer dealies. He made some covers for these stories."

"Ha, you're right, I didn't even notice! Damn I'm hot as hell."

"Yeah, you are. But I think Oblivion got it wrong, doesn't have enough cockiness in that grin."

"Well, you're one to talk! Did you see the freaking cover of that other story of us? You always try to pass yourself off as such a cool badass, you dork."

"Hmph, I can't help it if I'm a badass, just the card I drew, kid."

"Idiot . . . but I do have to say that you look pretty damn cute without a shirt . . . wait, don't tell me you modeled for him . . ."

"He said he needed a reference, it wasn't like he even drew exactly how I looked anyway."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"Well he drew me with pants on."

"Wait, you freakin' modeled for him without pants on!?"

"Or underwear."

"You freakin' pervy . . . remind me to get him to draw me the true picture later."

"Haha, stop drooling, pinky."

"Ahh, I can't help it, just imagining you . . . hold on there was something else that that perv writer wanted us to say."

"Yeah, why don't you tell everyone?"

"Erm, what was it, Gray?"

"You forgot!?"

"Maybe, don't tell him!"

"Like hell! I'm going to tell him then maybe I'll get a scene where I get to punish you!"

"No, wait, I remember!"

"I still get to punish you, I'll get the cuffs."

"Shut up, stripper! Okay. Hey, kids. Oblivion wanted to let you know that he went ahead and made a facebook pen page for his fanfiction writing."

"Why the heck did he do that?"

"Obviously, it's so he could post announcements about upcoming works and interests and important things."

"Like he has important things to talk about."

"Heh, keep talkin' like that, ice-princess, and it may be me getting the chance to punish you."

"Whatever, just finish up already."

"Okay, so as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by an ass . . . a very fine, firm ass, mind you, Oblivion set up this page under the name A.L. Oblivion. Wander on over and talk to him."

"Talk to him?"

"What, that's what he said to say."

"He did not."

"Look, it's right here in the script!"

"Pssh, like you ever read your script, Natsu."

"Anyway, he really wants to hear your opinions after you read the stories about our gooshy hot times, ain't that right, babe?"

"Nah, just sounds like he's really lonely."

"Well . . . there's probably some of that too."

"A lot of that."

"Hey, be nice to him, or else we won't get to the good part of this story. He said it helps him write, and he promised me that there'd be some really hot scenes and some great romance coming up in our future."

"Okay, if it helps inspire him to write, whatever, you can also just email him at ajdomaniwriting ."

"You mean his name isn't Oblivion?"

"Flame-brain, that's just a pen name, and I'm pretty sure that AJ Domani is too."

"Okay, that makes my head hurt. I'm getting tired, can we go to bed now?"

"Yeah, I think that was just about it."

"Hey, Gray."

"What's up?"

"You looked unbelievable in those boxer briefs today, just saying."

"Thanks, but I prefer to sleep au naturel, that a problem with you?"

"Hell, no! Cuddles?"

" 'Course."


	3. What You Weren't Supposed to Hear

**Chapter 3: What You Weren't Supposed to Hear**

Adjusting his tennis bag over his shoulder, Gray stood with his ever-impartial face, broken only by a slight irritation sparking in his cold blue eyes. Truth be told it wasn't Natsu that frustrated him, he was just a sudden reminder of the past. Of dancing. He still hadn't quite recovered from the shock of the fiery-hearted flame-brain asking him to become a dance instructor. Gray had tried hard to leave that sliver of himself firmly in the past, a broken empty shell of ice safe in memory as a burden of stone. Only once since he had left competitive dancing did he break down and allow himself a moment of gliding along with the music beating as a guiding wave through his life.

It had been three months ago in this dodgy little club on the outskirts of Magnolia. It barely even qualified as a club, dark, walls peeling, a smoky haze filling the air even though no fire burned, a strange mildewy smell permeating like a thick coat on a shoddy scuffed dance floor. It was fantastic. Lights strobed and pounded with the hum of driving music. It was just a few minutes. He had allowed a small part of himself locked behind ice to lay bare. Safe alongside his roommate, a tall ridiculous guy who belonged back in the 80s, but a good guy in the end. The only other people there, packed within the tiny renovated warehouse storeroom, he knew were Lieutenant Scarlet and her longtime boyfriend. Jellal. Gray really couldn't help it when Jellal asked him to dance. Sure, the amount of fire rum he had drunk didn't help.

But that guy. As screwed up as he was - maybe that was the reason Gray felt a pull to him, a kindred soul with a painful history and the mask of a personality it created - Jellal was a really good guy. He made his mistakes, had his share of being in the wrong place and with the wrong people. It didn't hurt that he was drop-dead gorgeous either. In all honesty, if Erza hadn't claimed him, Gray might have made a move himself. But thinking back on it, maybe that was the reason after all. The love he saw shared between Jellal and the incredibly crazy, but true friend he knew Erza to be. Though the ice shell he'd erected tried its best to harden his heart to block him from getting that close to another, there was an undeniable longing deep inside.

If only just for a song, if he could share in a bond like that, Gray submitted when Erza had pushed her blue-haired boyfriend into dancing with Gray. She was a good friend. Somehow, he always felt like she had seen straight through him, nothing he did could ever mask who he was from her. And Jellal, he was open, not thinking twice about dancing with a friend, even if that friend happened to be a guy. For just a night, none of it mattered.

Absently, Gray's hand traced the scar lining his brow, feeling the mar on the skin. It was only a physical mark, a never-ending reminder of the memories that happened so long ago, but burned an inferno behind his eyes every time he blinked. The ghosts were haunting every night before he finally surrendered to sleep. But they always managed to follow him into his dreams. The last night had been the worst in a long time. Dancing. Ur. Taking a shaky breath, Gray let out a heavy sigh as he walked onto the tennis court.

"Hey, Gray."

Freezing, Gray almost dropped his bag to the floor, catching it out of a pure knee-jerk reaction in his clenched hand before it fell to the ground. Natsu?

"Gray, Natsu's going to join us tonight if that's cool with you."

No it wasn't cool with him. Seeing that bright shining face just reminded him of the pain he had relived the entire night and day. "We don't have a fourth."

"Not to worry," Zeref glanced up the hill and nodded, "the fourth is here. I texted him last night."

Gray turned around to find his white-haired foster-brother waving, his own bag bouncing with each step he took down the wet grassy hill. As he slid to the bottom, Gray let out another breath. Lyon. At least there was a small comfort. They greeted each other with a tight bear hug.

Lyon pulled back, frowning as he inspected Gray's hollow eyes and the dark rings that had formed under his snow-pale skin. "You look like shit."

"Didn't get much sleep. I didn't know you were coming."

Jerking his chin to the older Dragneel, Lyon cocked his head slightly, examining his brother, "he invited me. I texted you."

"I had my phone off."

Grabbing his foster-brother's shoulder with a strong hand, Lyon leaned in, lowering his voice. "What happened?"

Shaking his head, Gray just drifted off with his lost gaze to the empty grassy hill, glistening with the slight chilling rain that had fallen earlier in the day. "Ur."

His jaw clenching, Lyon grabbed his brother in a rougher embrace. "Listen, I've also got something I need to tell you."

Natsu forced himself to smile fiercely, tapping his racquet slung like a bat on his delt. "Alright, let's get to the ass kicking." The youngest member of the group stared worriedly at Gray. None of what those two said to each other really made any sense to him, but he knew very well the bond brothers could share. Clearly, Gray wasn't looking too good either. He looked hurt, almost on the verge of being sick. Was it somehow his fault? Though he didn't have anything to base that nagging thought on, he couldn't help the seed of guilt settling in his belly. And rather than dealing with it, he decided it was time to start the brawl this tennis match would turn into.

Separating, the two pairs of brothers took to opposite ends of the court. Zeref tapped his younger brother on the back with his racquet. "Remember, you're trying to learn about Gray." For the game to continue to play out, Zeref knew he had to focus his wild-hearted younger brother. With his level of competition, the night would soon turn into a slugging match instead of a learning experience. It was his job to ensure Natsu himself didn't get in the way of his own needs. However, if the older Dragneel could have read his brother's thoughts he would have seen that wasn't an issue that night. Seeing the EMT who had always been so cool and collected - except when he was arguing with Natsu - his rival in a way, hurting; it unsettled the young firefighter.

"Best of three?" Zeref called across the net.

The pair of EMTs nodded in return, Lyon placing the tip of his white-framed racquet on the ground. "Up or down?"

Zeref glanced at his younger brother and grinned. "Up." The call was always up. The Dragneel brothers were always going up, always overcoming the next peak, ready for the challenge to climb higher. Natsu gave him a nod and a battle-ready look which gleamed in his forest green eyes. Zeref chuckled, shaking his head slightly at the pink-haired boy when they started warming up. As soon as he hit his first ball, the drive of competition was burning evident as a wildfire out of control in his younger brother's eyes. "That didn't take long," Zeref mumbled to himself, knowing full well that Natsu's wolf-keen ears could pick it up.

Across the net, the two cool foster brother's exchanged slow hits with their respective warm-up partners. As a ball left Lyon's strings, he glanced at Gray who drove a forehand down the line to the already overexcited pink-haired rook. "Gray, I really need to talk to you."

"Don't - ahhh – shit, does this guy even know what hell warm up means?" It took an exchange of about three hits until Natsu had sunken into his strikes, pummeling backhands and forehands hard and deep, flat down the line. Gray's cold blue eyes narrowed, focusing his mind on the ball, his memories water shedding for a brief moment. "Don't feel like talking right now."

"Yeah, I get that, but I seriously screwed up with Juvia last night."

Grunting Gray smashed a 'warm-up' forehand back across the net to the flame-brain overheated boy. "Got nothing to do with me. I've told you a mil - grr - million times that she's all yours."

"Yeah, I know that, but I kind of said something last night about you."

"Ha, shit-talking your 'love-rival', huh?"

"Not shit talking, exactly . . ."

"It's -ahh - cool man. I don't care. Be better for me if she loses her weird obsession anyway. I wish she'd just recognize how much you like her."

"Huph, don't we both. But I said something I really shouldn't have about you. I was drunk, Cana had challenged me and I didn't want to back down in front of Juvia, and I don't know exactly why I did it, and I didn't mean to, I mean well I probably wanted to, but, I just want you to know that I wouldn't have if I wasn't so d-"

"Stop talking, Lyon. You - gah - know you get like this every time you are feeling guilty and - damn it," a sharp clack rang from his racquet, vibrating down his wrist as the ball left the frame. He fished another ball out from his pocket, "I can't understand a word you're trying to say. Whatever it is, it's cool man, don't - gods, calm down, pinky - don't worry about it."

"But-"

"Alright, you guys ready to get started?" Zeref called out from the other end of the court.

Natsu grinned ferally, savoring the boiling energy he felt from just the short exchange he had with Gray. "Yeah, now I've got a fire in my belly."

"Gray, I-"

"Lyon, you want ad or deuce return?"

The white-haired boy finally submitted, stalking over to the deuce side of the court, bouncing on his toes at the baseline. Across the net, the pink-haired kid gave him a wicked grin from the baseline before tossing the ball high into the air. He bent low, rocketing up, twisting his entire body as the racquet made contact with the ball at full extension of his arm, sending it screaming over the net. It kissed the corner of the service box. Lyon stared dumbly as it passed, still caught on his split step, balanced on the balls of his feet. Gray cocked an eyebrow at him. Lyon huphed, "shit, that guy comes out of the gate charging."

That brought a slight chuckle from the boy who had shown nothing but melancholy. He back-pedaled to the baseline, prepping a healthy two and a half meters back from the bright white bold line. The ball cracked and before Gray could even think, it struck his racquet, reflecting back purely of its own momentum. Gray grit his teeth as it left his racquet, his arm going numb for a split-second. And so the set commenced.

The friendly nighttime hitting session had turned into a war of attrition. Gray had lost track of the number of games that had gone to deuce, but he was confident of one thing when the set had finally ended in a nail-biting 12-10 tiebreak, he'd never served so much in a doubles match. No point was an easy victory, especially when it came to rallying against the rook, then it turned into a downright brawl. Gray collapsed back onto the bench, panting. He'd barely made that last drop shot from the older Dragneel brother. It was purely luck that he had caught an inside out forehand flick on the edge of the double's alley - though he'd never admit that it was anything but skill. Grabbing a towel from his bag, he draped it over his head, while taking long gulps from his water bottle.

When finally he had upended the royal blue Nalgene, Gray stared at the empty bottom of the bottle, giving serious thought into whether it was worth it to walk up the hill to the water fountain. But, hell, they had at least one more set, couldn't go without the water. "I'll be right back."

His foster brother quickly grabbed his bottle from the bench and jogged to catch up with him. When they were halfway up the stairs and well out of earshot, Lyon grabbed the raven-haired man's shoulder, yanking him to a stop. "Look, I don't know how to say this, and it's really bothering me, so I'm just going to say it. I told Juvia that you are gay."

"And?"

"Well it's not my place to be going around talking about you like that."

"It's the truth, isn't it?"

"That's not the point, I mean it's your business, not mine, and I just went ahead and blabbed it. I know deep down it was because I wanted to get Juvia off of you and onto me, and I feel like shit, and it's really-"

Stopping his brother with a hand clasping his arm, Gray offered him a slightly amused smile. "You're doing it again. Look, it's fine. It's not like I keep it a secret or anything."

"Yeah, but at the same time you're aren't in your face flamboyant and being flippantly obvious. And you know Juvia is going to say something to everyone else."

Gray just shrugged, turning back to the stairs. "It's a part of who I am, Lyon. I'm not ashamed of it. I don't care if the whole station knows. It doesn't matter."

Lyon took a step up on the stairs to be level with Gray and wrapped his arms around his brother. "I'm sorry and thank you."

"It's fine. Now let go of me, you're all sweaty."

"Me!? Look at you! If you had a shirt on it would be drenched! As it is, I'm pretty sure your shorts were a much lighter blue before the set."

"Hmph, well maybe if someone didn't get his ass kicked with lobs from Zeref every other freaking point, I wouldn't have to run so much."

"Like, I could've gotten those!"

Laughing, Gray shook his head. "Yeah, right. Maybe if you could actually jump worth a dang."

"Hey, I can jump."

"I think half an inch off the ground is barely considered a bunny hop let alone a jump." That comment awarded Gray with a slug on the shoulder, to which he just chuckled, climbing the stairs.

* * *

"Hey, Natsu, you want some-"

"Shhhh." Nasty scowled at his brother before closing his eyes again and focusing on the voices he could now barely hear.

* * *

"You seem a lot better." Lyon leaned on an elbow against the back plate of the water fountain. He offered his foster brother a warm smile.

"Tennis helped get my mind off it." Gray let out a tight sigh, his head hanging as he gripped either side of the water fountain. Around his pinky the plastic strap held onto the filled water bottle. "It's that pink-haired guy."

"You like him?"

"What? No . . . I mean I don't dislike him."

Lyon's shoulders bounced at the quick turn around from Gray's solemnness to a spark of defense. "You do like him, don't you?"

Gray stared at the little bit of water still pooled in the fountain's bowl. His finger absently tapped the cool metal rim. "I don't know. I mean he's really cute. I guess . . . yeah, I don't know." His eyes flicked up to Lyon's knowing look. Gray shook his head, blowing out a short snort from his nose. "Doesn't matter anyway, he's all wrapped up in that blond girl."

* * *

Back on the tennis courts Zeref gave his younger brother a confused look, examining him closely. His cheeks were burning a bright pink. Amused, he leaned back against the fence, sipping his homemade electrolyte drink.

* * *

"But it's not really about that though. I mean, I've known you for a really long time, Gray, and I've never seen you get like this for anyone but your mother and Ur."

Nodding slowly, Gray let out a tight sigh feeling the immediate constriction on his chest. "It's not about that. He asked me to teach him to dance."

"Oh."

"It's just-"

Lyon put a reaffirming grip on his shoulder.

"I just don't want to dance, it feels like such a betrayal to Ur. She taught us, and she was right there with me when they refused my entry into the ballroom dancing finals. She fought all the way. She . . ."

Through the sweat and regardless of anything else, Lyon grabbed his brother in a tight hug. He knew the next part of the story, he was there. It was a pain they shared, a hot brand that never quite left his heart. "It wasn't your fault."

Scoffing, Gray turned his face up to the sky, begging the tears welling in his eyes not to fall. "You, yourself blamed me for five years. It was my fault, Lyon. It's because I got so emotional, it's because I hid away."

"Gray, I don't blame you any more. It was an accident. It was just the way Ur was, she would do anything to protect us. You didn't start the fire. You didn't do any of it. You were hurt by those damn dance judges. None of it is your fault."

The hot tears broke, trailing down his pale cheeks in the starlight. He coughed hoarsely, sliding his arm under his nose. "She died because she went in to save me, Lyon."

"Enough, Gray. Doing this to yourself isn't going to help anyone. Ur wouldn't want you to. Besides, it was really my fault. She died dragging me out after I ran in after you like a damned idiot. But dwelling on it doesn't change what happened Gray. We live for her now."

Burying himself in his foster brother, Gray allowed the tears to fall until they finally stopped. It took about ten minutes before Gray was back to a normal enough state, compiled enough to put up some semblance of being okay. He gave his brother one more hug before pulling back. "Maybe I just needed a good cry, thanks Lyon."

"Of course."

* * *

Natsu's jaw clenched when the foster brothers came back onto court. Gray's eyes were noticeably rimmed in a bright red pain. Natsu found it hard to breath, his eyes locked on Gray as he sat down on his bench, grabbing a banana from his bag. His chest hurt.

Gray glanced over at him, arching his brow. "Natsu?"

The pink-haired boy blinked.

Zeref jabbed him in the side with a hard elbow. "Natsu, you're staring."

He blinked again, quickly shaking his head. "I am?"

"Yeah . . ." Zeref examined his brother oddly. What had he heard? His younger brother, the fiery, hotheaded fighter looked almost on the verge of tears. "Natsu?"

"Alright!" Lyon stood, snatching his racquet off his bag, "let's kick these guys' asses again and take an easy win for the match."

"In your dreams, let me just send a couple more lobs your way, kid." Zeref smacked the younger Dragneel on the shoulder, and gave him a firm nod.

* * *

A/N: If you haven't figured it out already, I love tennis. I try to get out and hit with friends 3-4 times a week. There's just something about it, love it :) Actually, I met my first boyfriend through tennis, ahhhh nostalgia.

In case you were wondering, Natsu plays with the 2011 Wilson Blade 98 (my racquet – actually the racquets I currently use were my first boyfriend's – I stole them… well technically I paid him after a while, haha), Zeref plays with the Wilson Pro Staff (Federer's old racquet), Lyon plays with the Babolat Pure Storm, and Gray plays with the Babolat Pure Drive (Roddick's racquet).

Next Chapter: The Difference of One Note


	4. The Difference of One Note

Disclaimer: I know it, you know it, but hey, let's say it any way. I do not own any rights or even the smallest piece of Fairy Tail. Let's just take a moment and thank the great Hiro Mashima, without whom we wouldn't have such a fun story and I wouldn't have the chance to try my own writer's hand in a Fairy Tail tale. Also, I did not create or own the idea of Jeryy from D. Grayman. But, the following is my own creation, using the amazing characters created in these stories. Enjoy.

 **Chapter 4: The Difference of One Note**

"Natsu?"

….

"Natsu?"

"Huh?"

Zeref frowned, examining his younger brother's face carefully. Together they made their way around the worn dirt track. Sweat poured into his eyes, stinging terribly, but his younger brother barely looked like he was jogging, his face composed, his breathing steady and slow. But that was normal for his super-fit hard-headed younger brother. What wasn't was that Natsu's mind was clearly somewhere completely else, his forest-green eyes reflecting his soul far away. "What's up with you today?" Together, they ran around the curved end of the elliptical track, marking the beginning of their seventh mile.

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked distractedly, as if his brain had just used its knee-jerk response to that question, but he didn't really register one sound.

The older Dragneel's brow fell harder, Natsu didn't even follow up on that when he didn't respond. Swiping his hand over his flushed face, Zeref raked his hands back through his glistening black hair, sending sweat flying as they continued to run. He scanned the field as they ran, but didn't come across one glint of the blond haired girl. It really was the only thing that would make sense, but she was completely absent. Was his brother just thinking about her? Internally growling, Zeref cursed at himself. He didn't like not knowing things, and this was an area he just couldn't wrap his head around. What did normal people do when they were attracted to someone?

"Hey, Zeref, do you think I'm cute?"

Smirking, Zeref confirmed in his head that it had to be about the blond. "Nah, you're more of a little brat. Everyone knows I'm the cute one in the family."

The pink-haired boy just rolled his fiery eyes at his older brother, tempted to just pick up his pace from the slow jog he had been doing up until then and leave him in the dust. But, Natsu sighed. "I mean it, Zeref. Am I cute?"

"Why are you asking," Zeref stumbled a little, as his foot caught in the dirt, his breaths growing increasingly ragged and labored, "asking me this? 's about Lucy?"

"No," Natsu mumbled, rounding the bend again and starting their eighth mile.

"Okay," yeah, he really didn't understand this aspect of humanity at all. As foreign as Alpha Centauri for him, but his brother looked a little troubled. Honestly, he'd been this way ever since . . . ever since he had overheard the EMT brothers talking. What did he hear? Curiosity may have been the most double-edged weapon in Zeref's arsenal. It gnawed at him. He needed to know everything. "Yeah, I guess you're pretty handsome."

Natsu snorted. "Handsome is what a grandma would say to her little grand-baby, while pinching his cheek. Thanks a lot."

"I'm the wrong person to ask."

Growling, Natsu threw out his hands without breaking stride. "Who the hell else am I supposed to ask?"

"Okay, then yeah, I guess you're cute."

Natsu's green eyes glanced to him but quickly lost themselves again in whatever far-away land he had drifted to. That really didn't help much, he felt about the same as he did before asking Zeref. Restless. His body felt like an old glass bottle of soda, shaken for minutes and just set to rest alone. What was this unneeded energy and emotions he still couldn't pin down? The pink-haired man sighed, "ninth mile, I'll see you at the end." And with that, the ball of Natsu's foot dug into the worn dirt and he bolted out in front, pulling away from Zeref with the rapid acceleration of a cheetah at full stride.

His legs stretched out, hips opening as his arms pumped at his sides. The running shorts he wore let the strong cut muscles in his legs stand out, pounding every time his heel hit the ground. Keeping his torso straight, Natsu savored the cool air whipping past him, weaving through his hair, and the slight stabbing in his lungs.

By the time Zeref had finished his tenth mile, Natsu was already stretching, his legs wide as he bent in half on the grass, doubling over as his fingers trailed beyond his toe. Cooling down, Zeref wrapped his arms around himself, swinging his chest open and closed as he kicked the strain out of his legs in small loose movements. Below him, Natsu tugged his heels into his groin, pressing his knees down with his elbows.

Falling to the ground, Zeref mirrored Natsu. Though, his brother just stared off, barely registering his presence. He followed his younger brother's intense gaze across the field to where a single raven-haired man balanced on one foot, bending at the waist as his outstretched arms titled skyward. His bare chest was shining with the exertions of his own early morning workout. "Natsu, why are you staring at Gray?"

"Huh?" Bright pink splashed across his boyish face, before he turned back to stare off to the other end of the grassy field. Almost instantly his attention faded away again. "What do you think that book was that he's reading?"

"Reading?" Gray elegantly swept his arms down as he fell back onto his back foot, perfectly balanced between his toes. "He's doing yoga, Natsu, what the heck are you talking about?"

"When he was walking down here, he had a book in his hand and a piece of paper that he was writing on over it."

Zeref blinked several times. He honestly couldn't even remember when Gray had gotten down to the field, it had to be while they were running and after he felt like collapsing at the fifth mile or else he would have noticed. But more importantly, why did Natsu notice? That guy was always so oblivious to everything around him. What the heck was going on? "I don't know, he likes poetry, maybe it was that."

Natsu swung back around, intensely fixated on his brother now, "he likes poetry?"

"Natsu, what is going on?"

"Nothing," the pink-haired man mumbled, doubling over and reaching his hand out into the grass until his back was parallel with the ground. Rolling back up, Natsu jumped to his feet and clapped his hands together, "I think I need to talk to Gray."

Zeref just shook his head rapidly. WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON? He was about to grab his brother's arm and make him explain it to him, but as he reached out his hand, a siren rang from the top of the hill.

Natsu whipped back around, his face suddenly intensely serious, his green eyes shining with an excited fury. "Let's go." And despite the fact that he had just jogged nine miles and sprinted another, Natsu tore up the hill, bounding like a gazelle taking the steps four at a time. Zeref just rubbed his face in the palm of his hand before huphing and running after his brother. This was the third call already and it was only seven in the morning. It was going to be a long day.

 _***duh la la la laaa la da daaaaa – cue the spinning batman graphics!***_

"I don't give one flying fuck what the mayor said! I need a goddamn plane in the air now. No, you listen to me, you ask the mayor what's more important: the thousands it will take to send up a fire retardant team, or the millions of acres that are going to burn and the possibility that if the wind shifts, it's headed straight into his voters' homes." Whipping the headset off his ears, Gildarts growled, flicking it into the dash. "Bunch of damn bureaucratic asshole sitting around with their thumbs up their asses!"

"Way to kiss up to the office, chief," Zeref chuckled in the driver seat as the engine screamed up the hillside, leaving the town stretching out back below them.

"Idiots don't know what it takes to get fires beat." Continuing to mumble to himself, Chief Gildarts picked up the headset from the floor. Out of the earpiece a high-pitched woman's voice was squawking. Fixing it over his ear, Gildarts scowled, "yeah, yeah, no, yeah, okay." He rolled his eyes in a wide dramatic motion, settling back against the headrest with a huph.

"Firebird going up?"

"Damn right it is. If they didn't send one up, I think it would've been prudent to show them what a fire is like first hand in their home."

"You're not even really the chief yet, let's try not resorting to arson yet, chief."

"Tch. Can't wait until gramps gets into that office." Shifting in his seat, he threw his arm over the back, giving the two rooks in the backseat along with the burly hulking Elfman a hard glare. "Here's the situation, kids. We have a three-hundred acre burner in the Magnolia forest, first sight at 6:40am."

Elfman gave out a sharp whistle. "300 acres in thirty minutes? That's a manly fire."

"She's just getting started. Forecast is 4000 in the next thirty. The fire triangle is about as bad as it gets."

"Fire triangle?" Lucy sat up, her knee bouncing in anticipation.

"Fuel, oxygen, source." Gildarts, pulled up a clip board, scanning down the paper. "Rain fall in the last two years has been forty percent under a normal low average, wind speeds whipping her ass into a sprint. It's going to be a fight, kids. Now listen, there's already a hell jumping team en route, they are going to working south, creating a fire wall. Our job is going north. Put out any spot fires that you find, clear brush, and make damn sure she doesn't double back on herself.

"You and your spotters are tied at the hip today, got it? You don't piss without the other knowing. The wind could shift at any moment and you better get your ass out of there if it does. You all got that? Hey, Salamander, I'm talking to you!"

"I got it."

"All hands are on deck today. There's only a skeleton crew back home, everyone on call is going to be out there with you, I'll be organizing from here, but priority orders are from your section leads. Engine team three is going to be up here in two hours once they douse that residential. Make no mistake, kids, this is the fire of the year, got it? If I had my choice I would never be bringing you rooks out here." If only Gildarts knew then how bad that year would get.

The engine screeched to a halt at the forest's edge. The five fighters sprang out of the cab, the chief already walking off with an arm gesturing and issuing orders to the lightning squad, the leader of which, Lieutenant Dreyar, more aptly nicknamed the thunder god, shifted a massive two-handed axe over his burly shoulder.

"Elf, Lu, you're with us!" Next to an adjacent engine, the genius of the station, the short and amazing Levy waved her hand. The Dragneel brothers separated from them, Zeref tugging Natsu behind him.

The pink-haired rook just stared at awe at the pillar or dark black smoke coiling and rising from the forest's heart, churning and overwhelming the clear blue sky with a dragon's fury. It called to him like a beating drum thrumming in his gut.

"Hey, dumbass, pay attention!"

The eager fighter groaned as he turned from the fire waiting behind the treeline. Of course he would be in _his_ team. Somebody really did hate him up there. Natsu frowned, not attempting to hide one ounce of his disappointment and disgust as he beheld the long black spiky hair of the wanna-be grunge rocker, the piercings in his nose glinting with the early morning sun. Though, behind him, Lieutenant Scarlet barked orders with a vicious gleam in her eyes as she slammed her fist down on Myst's head. Beside her, her blue-haired boyfriend just grimaced in sympathy for his twin.

"Damn it, Pinky, stop staring off." Gajeel spat at the ground, his lip twitching in an aggressive animalistic snarl. "Why the hell did I get stuck with you bunch of rejects!"

Us bunch? Natsu turned, a bolt of pure shock slamming his chest with a curled fist. Gray glanced at him, inclining his head slightly in a greeting. Beside him, his brother gave a wink, his normal gravity defying white hair stamped down inside his helmet. "Why are you guys here?"

"We are trained fire fighters too, blockhead."

"One of you shouldn't be," Gajeel not too subtly mumbled, glaring at the raven-haired EMT.

Lyon went to make a quick retort, but Gray just put his hand on his brother's shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze.

"After last time, Fullbuster, you have no damn right to wear a god damn fighter uniform." The spiky-black haired bad boy grabbed Gray's collar in a tight fist, shoving his face to within inches of Gray's. "If you fucking go out there, you put every one of us in danger, and you know it. So just stay here, pretty boy."

"I'm cleared for duty."

"Old-man Gildarts has no fucking clue what he's doing putting you back out there. Not after last time. You should've been fucking thrown out of Fairy Tail on your ass. There's no place for your bullshit. Not with me. You're not going out there."

"Well, it's not your call, rat." Zeref warned in a low monotone, his eyes dangerous underneath his helmet. "I'm lead, and it's my call."

Stabbing a finger at the oldest fire fighter in their small dysfunctional group, Gajeel sneered, showing the fine points of his blade-like teeth. "If you had any sense, you'd leave him here. You were there, Zeref. You were there back in January. Because of him, because of this chicken-sh-"

A hollow bone on bone crack filled the air just as Gajeel went flying backward, sprawling out on the ground. On his ass, Gajeel brought his hand up to his reddened face, glaring with an incredulous deathly look at Lyon. The white-haired boy shook his hand in the air, waving out the jarring pain from meeting Gajeel's cheekbone with his knuckles. He returned the grunge-rook's look with a steely glare of his own.

"All right, that's enough of that," Zeref commanded in his same monotone, authoritative voice. Lending Gajeel a hand to his feet, he continued, "we are a team. This is going to be a very long fight as it is and if any of you are thinking about hurting anyone else in this group, I will personally throw your ass into the wildfire and I will watch with joy as you burn to a crisp." He glanced from face to face, "everyone got that?"

"Tch," Gajeel turned his back to the group, "he causes trouble, it's his ass, I'm not dying because of him."

Natsu just stood there, looking quickly from face to face, inspecting each one in turn, only to be left more perplexed as he tried to understand each look. Gajeel was easy, he was pissed. He was always pissed – though there was some serious hatred there that Natsu had never seen before. Gray, who was apparently the epicenter of all the tension, just looked stoic, his pale face impartial, while his brother fumed, biting at the bit, ready to claw Gajeel's eyes out. "Zeref?"

His older brother just shook his head with a quick jerk. "Gear up, boys. We are heading straight to the frontline." Though he tried to get an answer from his brother, Natsu only found him unresponsive. Even for his antisocial brother, he was always open for Natsu, but not now. The air felt thick with the energy vibrating in the tension rolling off of each of the other three boys, yet Gray still seemed just resigned. "Why the hell, did I go running this morning?" Zeref mumbled, already feeling the tired edge creeping into his legs. It was going to be a long day, and most likely stretch into longer than that still. "Let's go."

 _****And now for a word from our sponsors: Hey kids! Don't forget, fire is not a toy. Never play with matches, and always make sure that campfire is well covered and stamped out before falling asleep. Even professionals who have been working with fire their entire lives would never claim to be in control of it. What is the first and most important thing in preventing fires? You! … And now back to regular scheduled programming****_

The five members of the most poorly constructed team in Fairy Tail history broke through the dry forest underbrush, silence only broken by the crashing and snapping of branches and twigs as the men forged their path. They had been trudging along through the unmolested natural world for an hour and a half now, and still had about another forty to go before even being within a working radius of the ravaging fire. Every second that ticked by meant that the wildfire was growing, driving as an army, uncontested and unhindered by all the life it squelched to black ash. They would meet its whipping tail soon. Natsu shifted the chainsaw he carried, his forearms burning from its awkward weight.

The team suddenly stopped when their lead, turned around, facing the group. "We are going to be splitting up into two groups from here, Gray, you're with me, you three are together. You three will work ahead to the tail, clear away a healthy breadth and dig in some lines. Gray and I are going to scout the outer edge for any spot fires."

When the men shifted to separate, Natsu glanced at Gray who looked as if he had been stabbed in the chest, pain clear in his midnight blue eyes. "You're chaperoning me."

"No, this is a necessary job, and we will act as spotters once we get up to the ridgeline."

"You're chaperoning me," Gray repeated, the hurt lining his words as his eye line dropped to the dirt. His brother placed a strong supportive hand on his shoulder though he paid it no mind. "I can fight! Let me go in there, Zeref."

"No, this is my call. And if you don't like it, then you shouldn't have come."

Gajeel gave him a wicked sneer as he passed, shoulder checking the lifeless man. Gray didn't respond. Natsu frowned intensely, his chest hurting. What the hell was going on? Beside him, Lyon looked worriedly at his brother.

"You should just stay back, Gray. Let me go in your stead, okay?" The look on Lyon's face was the oddest of combinations. In his eyes shone a clear relief, while his worry bit severely making hard lines in his snow-like skin.

"You don't believe in me either." Gray turned to his brother, the hurt so plain on his face. "I can do this."

"I believe in you, Gray." Lyon sighed, "Gray, I just—"

"I got it," Gray interjected, a hardness lining his eyes through the pain.

"Just watch our backs, okay, bro? There'll be other fights." Hesitant to leave, Lyon grabbed Natsu by the shoulder and pushed him along as they moved to follow Gajeel who had already disappeared.

"What was that all about?" Natsu demanded of Lyon once they had walked several minutes off and were well out of earshot.

"They don't trust me," Gray commented, his words cut short like a dagger's keen edge through his earpiece. Natsu cringed, realizing he had forgotten to turn off his COM.

"Gray, what-"

"Natsu, you have a job to do, get your ass moving," Zeref barked, ending all communications and leaving the pink-haired rook with a ringing ear.

Rubbing his pained ear on his shoulder, Natsu made sure to flick off his COM on his walkie-talkie at his belt before repeating his question to Lyon. The white-haired man just sighed in reply, continuing to break ground ahead of them.

Luckily, or unluckily as it was, Natsu didn't have much time to dwell on it. They practically tripped onto the fire's whipping tail as it thrashed like a demon on the wind through the trees. It spread, breaking like ethereal waves upon the bark of the trunks.

"Salamander, get to cutting, we make the line here. If she's going to come this way, make sure she doubles back on herself and bites her own ass."

Natsu grunted, yanking at the chord of his chainsaw. The thrum of its roar echoed in the vibration jittering his arms. The fire was about three hundred feet off, burning north. They would make a preemptive stand here, ensuring that the hell jumper's efforts at the dragon's mouth wouldn't be in vain if the winds turned it back south again. Digging the blade of his chainsaw into the closest hulk of a dead standing tree, Natsu bit his teeth as his arms quickly fell numb and wood chips flew past his face.

Ahead of him, Lyon slammed the blade of a shovel into the hard ground, Shoving his boot on its head and gouging the earth. Gajeel had already set to work clearing the dried underbrush. He too dug with a spade, and also piloted small controlled ground fires to eat away any of the fuel.

The hours seemed to drain by as they worked tirelessly. Natsu glanced up every now and then to witness the awesome wrath of the fire beast which had carved away all the life in the forest as far as he could see north. Sweat had long-since drenched his clothes, leaving him a sticky, uncomfortable mess as he labored. The ground seemed to be breathing a fire of its own as they edged closer to the event horizon, feeling the heat billowing from the charred earth.

Natsu ran the back of his gloved hand across his face, only to feel the black grunge shift a thick layer on his skin. Lyon nodded to him, breathing hard, as he braced himself with his hands clenching at his knees. Somewhere along the way, even Gajeel had ceased to rub Natsu raw. Too tired to expend any excess energy, they just glanced at each other wearily while they both took long gulps from their water bottles. Cool water trickled down his chin as he swallowed hard. But, he looked around, taking a strange pride in the firewall they had constructed. And it felt absolutely amazing to know he was part of a team giving all they had to combat nature's wrath, together with the entire station, who were surely connecting one wall to the next and cornering the fire. But then he thought of Gray. He hadn't heard one word from the raven-haired man through the entire ordeal, and it was already well into the afternoon.

His COM buzzed in his ear, "good work, guys. Take a thirty minute break and refuel a little," Zeref's voice called.

Lyon crashed down next to him, hooking his arms around his knees. His normal pearlescent skin was miles below the soot and ash marking his face like a thick burglar's mask. And most notably, his stark white hair was now bathed black and clinging to his forehead. Holding out a candy bar, he gave Natsu a small smile. "Eat this, it'll help."

The Salamander tore at the chocolate with a fury, almost devouring the wrapper itself. He licked his dry, chapped lips before taking another long swing from his water bottle.

"You're holding up pretty well. This is your first wildfire, right, Salamander?"

The rook nodded jerkily, flopping back onto the ground with his arms outstretched, palms open to the sky.

Lyon smiled awkwardly, but then he flicked the button on his walkie-talkie. "How are you holding up, Gray?" A static burst was the only reply. Lyon sighed at the signal of a walkie-talkie being disconnected. "That was the wrong way to ask that. Zeref, how's he doing?"

"He's doing his job."

Lyon just rolled his eyes, plopping down next to Natsu while flicking off his mic. "You're brother is a robot, Natsu."

Giggling lightly at that, Natsu just nodded. "He doesn't really get any emotional stuff, I tease him all the time that he might just be a super-sophisticated android. But," Natsu's burning green eyes swiveled to Lyon, "what's all the stuff going on with your brother?"

Silence fell upon the two fighters. Lyon just stared away at the desolation after giving a short shake of his head.

"Uhh," Natsu tried awkwardly again after five minutes of sudden silence passed, "can I ask you some things about him?"

"No." Lyon glanced at the rook next to him, the brilliant pink of his spiky hair laid subtle and covered by the dark ash. The boy frowned so heavily. "Sorry, Natsu, I just don't like talking about other people. I don't make it my business to share second hand information or gossip. If it's not mine to share, I don't feel I should. If you want to know more about him, you should just ask him yourself."

"Mmkay," Natsu sighed heavily, staring up at the blackened sky overhead.

"Okay, team, let's get back to work," his older brother commanded over the COM.

"Hey, Zeref, what's our timing looking like?"

"Going to be out here until sunrise at the very least. We push on until dinner."

And so the three men did push on. As they advanced with the fall of evening, their world turned even more hellish. They had finally caught up to the fire's flank, and it was pissed. Embers flew in every direction. No sooner did Natsu stamp out a fledgling spot fire then another one would catch behind him. He felt like he was rooted in place, spinning endlessly in a circle.

In an ancient dance, he was a madman, smacking the ground underneath with the sole of his boot, digging into the ground with a shovel and sending dirt flying through the air. He growled, snarling his teeth. In his mind, he brandished a long gleaming broadside, standing at the edge of barren wasteland, staring down the kingly glare of a mighty ancient dragon.

It's huge fanning wings beat up a storm, whipping and cracking at the air. Flames licked far too close to his skin, making his eyes water at the heat. He hacked and slashed his sword, not really feeling the weight of the long blade anymore. His arms were numb, his shoulders long since too tired to even register. But, the dragon roared and as its jaws opened, its dangerous eyes glinted with divine pleasure as its wrath and fury was released. Opening its maws, a growing overwhelming fire coursed out from its scaly throat, bathing its tongue and exploding through the air.

"Hey, Salamander! Hey, Lyon, Gajeel!" Natsu froze in mid swing of his sword, blinking. A woman who looked a lot like Erza smiled at him. Though instead of her firefighter suit, she wore a gleaming metal breastplate, her scarlet hair, long and whipping down her back. She seemed a mighty swordswoman, wielding two keen blades at her sides. Natsu blinked, wincing, as he rubbed the top of his head.

Erza glared hard at him, dropping her fist. "I don't even want to know what you were day dreaming about, Salamander."

Natsu blinked again. She looked absolutely ragged. Her hair was a tangled mess, black coating her from her face down. The grunge and gruel matting her suit to her skin testified to the fight she had waged against the fire.

"How are you guys holding up?"

"Kickin' ass more than getting our asses kicked," Lyon grunted, as he bent low, tugging a large decayed branch back several feet.

She jerked her chin. "All you can ask for. Scanning over the faces, she frowned, before locking onto Lyon and flipping off her COM at her side. "Where's Gray?"

"With Zeref, up on the ridge line."

Nodding, her soot covered cheek bulged out from her poking tongue. "I was worried."

Now Natsu frowned even harder. The hurt look Gray had that morning flashed across his mind again. For Erza to be worried . . . what happened? He felt like he needed to know, but at the same time, a small part of him didn't even want to know – it must have been bad.

Flicking on her walkie-talkie again, Erza crossed her arms across her chest as she spoke into it with her normal general-like authority. There was a reason she was called Titania. "Zeref, we just met up with your group. We are going to push together, working North, by North-east, two-clicks."

"Roger that. She's been pretty tame on this end so far, hope that keeps up."

Shrugging a long-bladed hatchet over her lat, Erza's teeth shone in utter juxtaposition in white brilliance to her ash-strewn face. "There's a river about three miles from here. Let's see if we can't get there before nightfall. I want to take a bath before dinner tonight, boys."

As it was, night-descended upon the forest an hour before the six-member team tumbled into a small clearing as the trees fell away to rushing water. The twin blue-headed boys collapsed on the rocky bank, while Lyon just crumbled in the dirt. Unlike the others, Gajeel walked off, separating himself completely from the group without a word. And Erza unceremoniously, and without a care that she was surrounded by a bunch of men, peeled her clothes off and stepped into the frigid water.

The river downstream turned black as the water licked against her skin. She sighed a sigh of relief, lowering herself into it and swayed her head with her eyes peacefully closed, the water pulling and streaming through her long hair.

Natsu jumped when a branch crashed beside him, only to find Zeref tailed by Gray emerge into the clearing. Zeref kept to himself, as was his norm. And Gray just avoided everyone, even more than he usually spared. Without meeting anyone's eyes, he sat at the river's edge, tugging off his boots and dropping his feet into the running water. Out of his pocket he pulled out a folded piece of paper and a fountain pen. Natsu watched him silently, as he scribbled on the paper underneath the moonlight.

'Dinner,' or what normal people would call cold lumpy mountain mash potatoes and tepid soup, was a savory feast to the group. Natsu devoured the food, staring longingly at the pot, wishing to take another healthy serving, but, he sighed, falling back on the ground. His entire body was numb. There was more food to be made, but no one had the energy to make it, and they may have need for it if this stretched into another day's worth of work tomorrow.

He watched Lyon carry a cup of the cold soup over to the river's edge, sitting down with shaky limbs next to his brother, who hadn't moved from the spot. "Here, eat this."

Natsu frowned, recalling what Lyon had said to him. It wasn't his business to learn secrets that weren't meant to be shared with him. A pang of guilt twanged in his chest as he remembered last night when he had overheard Gray and Lyon. Wait, was that really just last night? Gods, it seemed like it was at least a week ago. But, as guilty as he was, he couldn't turn off his sharp ears. And curiosity still played its stealthy guiding hand.

Gray pushed the cup back at his brother, "you need it more than me. You worked really hard today."

"Come on, just eat it."

"No. You need it. You were the one fighting endlessly, today. You were the one swinging the axe, digging more ground than humanly possible, hauling dead trees, killing fires; not me. You expended a lot of energy."

"Gray, being a spotter is a necessary role."

"Yeah, I know that, but the energy I spent just sitting back at a safe distance and watching you guys doesn't compare to what you guys put into actually doing the real work."

"Gray . . ."

"Enough, Lyon. Seriously, just eat the soup, I can hear your stomach rumbling, take my share of the food, that way I served at least some justifiable purpose today."

"Would you stop it? Gray, come on. Sulking like this doesn't help anyone, least of all you."

"You don't get it Lyon, they don't trust me. Fuck, I don't trust me! They are probably right, I shouldn't be fighting fires. I feel like I've gotten absolutely nowhere since January. I'm finally back out here, and yet I can't even go out there and fight. I just sit back up there, twiddle my thumbs, and watch while you guys risk your lives."

Natsu sighed heavily, feeling the hitch in his chest again.

Erza sat down next to Gray, wearing just an extra-large blue t-shirt, which hung loosely over her. Altogether, she now looked like she was just comfortably lounging at home in her living room, ready to cuddle up on the couch and settle in with a movie. "We are going to put this one to rest by noon tomorrow. You guys have a concert tomorrow night right?"

Lyon groaned, "oh, god, I can't even think about playing right now."

"Yeah, well you're going to, if you know what's good for you, I want to relax with a tall chilled beer in The Frozen Emperor tomorrow night."

Gray let out a small chuckle at that. "If Erza wants it, you are going to have to do it, Lyon."

That night, Natsu conked out in a record twenty seconds, a loud ripping snore filling their small campsite almost instantly after his eyelids closed.

When the Natsu woke it was to the sound of sizzling fat over the small campfire and a heavenly drawing scent which wrapped around him and sent him drifting among the clouds. He looked around though, scowling despite the thick rich bacon smell surrounding him, for everyone was up and about. Everyone was up before him? Impossible, even his brother, who was standing quietly watching the bacon fry in Jellal's small pan. What was more, his body felt like a giant lead brick, anchored to the ground. His shoulder groaned as he shifted to sit up.

"Well, it's about time, sleepy-head! Nat-suuuuu ti-wwwwaaddd?"

Natsu's face immediately shot through a light pink as on a beat the entire entourage's attention snapped to him. Luckily, the black soot still covered him like a mask, and hid the embarrassment well. But, Erza gave him a wicked smirk as if she could see the blush as plain as day. So promptly, he threw his thickly ash coated jacket at Gajeel, smacking his face dead center. A small plume of dark dust billowed from the impact, poofing into the air as an overfull makeup pad.

A fistfight was imminent. Even the scarlet lieutenant knew she wouldn't be able to stop the brawl to come. But, when Jellal called the first batch of bacon done, all hostility in the group flew away on the wind, a misbegotten notion.

"I think the first strips should go to the birthday boy!" Jellal announced with his ever-present wide toothy smile. Sliding the bacon from the pan to a plate in a quick trained motion, he held the plate to Gray who just rolled his eyes while taking it. "Happy birthday, Gray, sure picked a fantastic way to enjoy it!" Not deigning to respond, the raven-haired man just took a chomp on his bacon, and gave the blue-haired chef an amused stare.

It was Gray's birthday? Natsu immediately felt the worry as if he were a small child, showing up to a party without a present. How was he supposed to know? It just got worse when Erza handed him a crushed and squashed cupcake.

"That's strawberry-shortcake flavored," the lieutenant said very seriously, holding onto the end with a death grip, finding it the hardest challenge she would ever face to let go of the sweet.

Gray looked dubiously at the destroyed desert, it's thick confectionary sugar melted to the plastic it was pancaked flat in. Though, he knew far better than to say anything but a gracious thank you back to the Titania.

"Hey," Natsu elbowed his older brother in the side, dropping his voice to a near-silent whisper, "why don't you put Gray on the forward team today? He's fresh unlike the rest of us and he would probably be way more effective than all of us put together."

"No."

Jerking at his brother's hard refusal, Natsu insisted, gesturing at the raven, "come on it's his birthday. You know how hurt he was when you wouldn't let him fight yesterday." Recalling the words Gray had snapped out over their COM last morning, Natsu questioned, "don't you trust him?"

"I don't trust anyone."

"Isn't he your friend?"

"Yes, he is, and that's precisely why I'm keeping him by my side and not putting him out there. I need to keep an eye on him. Natsu," Zeref turned in an odd seriousness to his little brother, "you know this better than anyone else. You are either born a smoke-eater or you aren't. Now leave it be."

"But-"

"Drop it."

Huphing, Natsu pouted childishly until a plate of bacon managed to flip that mood, if only just a little.

After the group had eaten a small quick breakfast and broken camp, they looked to eachother with a determination that would make any wall crumble. Shouldering their gear, they walked off, ready to return straight to the hellish fight with the light of the new dawn.

In the back of the group, Gray stopped his brother with a hard grip on his forearm. "I'm sorry about yesterday. Acting like that, it just proves they were right . . . I'm still not ready. Sorry for being such a pain in the ass."

Lyon gave him a crooked grin, smacking his shoulder. "You're my brother, Gray. What else would you be than a pain in the ass?"

Shaking his head as he laughed, Gray grabbed his brother in a rough bear hug. "Take care of yourself out there, today. I'll see you once we win this thing."

"Oh hey look, a plane! What's that pink stuff it's dropping on the fire?"

"That's fire retardant, dumbass."

"Looks fun, let's go play in it!"

"It'll melt the skin off your bones."

"Really!?"

*Sigh* "Why is that making you excited? Let's just get back to work, okay?"

The sun was hanging low in the sky, bathing the blackened world in a deep ominous red when the fire finally laid down to die. The combined team made it back to the trucks just as the stars were starting to come out. Weak and weary, they managed enough energy to shove themselves into the cabs, leaning limp and lifeless on their friends inside.

"Congrats on making it through your first wildfire, kids." Gildarts wore a broad grin that spoke legions to his pride in the new fledgling group. Thrown into the deep end off the start, they proved that they would swim, and come out the best there ever was. And a hell of a showing they did of it for their first time.

Zeref climbed into the driver seat of the engine, giving the chief a nod. Before the tires of the firetruck met pavement the three in the backseat snored loudly. An explosion could have gone off just outside the truck and they would have remained completely oblivious, dead to the world. Gildarts smiled again, looking back at them. "Good job, kids."

Stretching his jaws wide, Natsu opened his mouth in a gaping yawn, teetering back on his heels. If it wasn't for his brother's hands suddenly supporting him, he probably would have toppled over. But, honestly, he probably wouldn't have minded if he had. He yawned again, but rubbed his stomach idly. "I want foooood."

And food he got. Jeryy's arms flailed as his blurred motion through the kitchen reached an apex upon the Salamander's arrival. Bowl after bowl of steaming food churned out the order window. Sniffing at the air, Natsu drifted along the dining hall, completely lost to all else. When he sat down to eat, a mountain of food obscured him from the rest of the room, though it didn't last long. Rice, chicken, steak, string beans, snap peas, everything disappeared without a trace. He quickly went back to Jeryy, who crooned, smiling brightly as he handed the pink-haired man covered in soot, ash, and grunge another mountain.

It was an hour and a half before he finally sat back, patting his extended belly with a blissful smile upon his lips. Now, he shakily stood, pushing himself up from the table, it was time for a shower. He felt absolutely disgusting, and he smelled worse.

That shower was simultaneously the most wonderful and hardest thing Natsu had ever done. The stinging hot water baptized him, cutting through the thick layers of dirt over his skin. Raking his fingernails along his forearms, he carved away the armor gained from the battle. Steam caressed him and he lolled, rolling his head back and forth under the hot stream and moaned as it warmed tired muscles. And yet, he had to remain standing. His legs protested his stoic stance under the waterfall profusely, and as a result of their whining, his shower ended far sooner then he really wanted to. Plopping down on his bed, with only his towel around his waist, Natsu mumbled a quick good night to his brother, before snoring filled their room.

Rubbing fists over his eyes, Natsu sat up in his bed, "mornin'."

"Morning, how are you feeling."

Gripping one of his arms just below the elbow, he stretched high over his head feeling his midsection open up and his side protest. "Feels like I got run over by a truck, but I'll manage."

Nodding, Zeref flipped a page in the book he was reading. He glanced at his brother over the books edge, "you did really well the last couple of days. You should be proud."

"Thanks, now I know why dad was so ridiculously strict when it came to campfires." Laughing softly, he plopped back down in his sheets, staring at the white ceiling overhead. "What's today looking like?"

"The chief said we'd get by with a small on-call today. Most everyone has off, including you and me."

"What about Gray?"

Cocking his head, Zeref's eyes narrowed. "Gray's going to be playing down at The Frozen Emperor tonight."

"Sweet, I wanna go."

Frowning, the older Dragneel slipped a bookmark on his page and closed it over his lap to turn his attention to Natsu. "What's going on with you lately? Even during the fire, you kept bringing up Gray. Weren't you always fighting? Now you want to go see him play."

Natsu just shrugged, slipping on a pair of black Calvin Klein boxer briefs before sliding his tired legs through his jeans. "Want to go get some breakfast?"

"Already ate."

The pink-haired boy frowned, giving his brother a mocking look. "I really don't like this whole you getting up before me thing. Doesn't feel right. Anyway," he tugged on a black t-shirt before opening the door, "I'll see you tonight at The Frozen Emperor then."

"Wait, what?"

"Well, you're coming along of course. Gotta get my anti-social bro out once in a while to be around other talking primates. I've got some shopping to do though, so I'll catch up with ya in town later." He winked before sliding out of their room and clicking the door shut behind him.

That night bit cold. Natsu panted heavily, his breaths fogging in front of his nose as he almost collapsed. His older brother just cocked an eyebrow at him, standing in front of The Frozen Emperor with his hands stuffed into his hoody pockets at his belly. Running a hand back through his wild pink hair, Natsu gave his brother a slight smile. Really, that run there was next to impossible after the last two days, but it took forever to find what he was looking for in town.

Tucking the paper bag covering the book underneath his arm, Natsu jerked his head, signaling them to go in. He hadn't run all the way through Magnolia back to here only to miss out on the concert now.

"What's in the bag?"

"A book."

"A book?" Zeref smirked, leaning in close to examine his brother. " _You_ spent all day finding a book? _You?_ Natsu Dragneel?"

"Yeah, finally found what I wanted in this really small hole of a bookstore all the way across town." Natsu smiled brightly, sitting at a nearby table, tucked in the corner.

"Who are you? A book!"

"A book?" Jellal Fernandez's lip quirked, leaning over the table. "Natsu got a book?"

"Woah, the flame-brain can read?"

Natsu blinked at the blond-haired boy with a cocky smile sitting next to Jellal, his arm around the black haired, almost goth kid, next to him. His hand rested at the other boy's hip. "Sting!?"

Flicking two fingers to his brow in a mock salute, Sting Eucliffe winked his shining blue eye in the dark hazy atmosphere of the club. "Yo."

"Why are you . . ." Natsu shook his head. Running into his old friend from the Dragon Slayer's Fire Prep Academy, here of all places.

Sting shrugged, but then dropped his cheek onto the black-haired boy's shoulder. "Rogue and I figured we'd hang around town for a little bit, that fire was a bitch."

"You are a hell jumper." Erza glared nodded to him in a strange admiring air of approval. She reverently placed a shining slice of yellow cake, washed in a finely decorated buttermilk icing, and topped with no less than a mountain of ten plump dark strawberries.

Sting inclined his head to her. But, he slid his attention back to the pink-haired man, while never lifting his head from his partner's shoulder. "What book did you get?"

Erza blinked, a gleaming metal fork hanging from the corner of her mouth. "Natsu got a book?"

Growling, Natsu shook his head incredulously. "YES! **_I_** got a book! Jeez." Though, he dropped into a self-irritated muttering, "it's a gift."

A gleam sparked in the Titania's eyes as the tongs of her fork poked teasingly at the top strawberry. And she exchanged a quick look with her blue-haired beau who just nodded with a sign of recognition in return.

Pouting, Natsu just stared across the table at his old friend. He cocked his head to the side, like an inquisitive puppy. "Who is he?"

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Sting turned so that his blue eyes were shining just a few inches from the strangely powerful red eyes of his partner. "This is the most amazing man in the world." He leaned in and took his lips deep in his own, before pulling back with a cheesy grin. "This is my fiancé, Rogue Cheney."

Rolling his dark-red burning eyes, Rogue smirked, "nice to meet everyone."

Fiancé? Natsu openly stared at the two in such a comfortable lover's embrace across the table. But, it all instantly slipped from his mind when the room's lights faded to a low hum. The stage lit with bright footlights, illuminating the group as they walked on. The whole room whistled, cheers, cat-calls, and the occasional friendly jeer rang from the gathered audience to their friends.

The drunkard fire chief's daughter, who was probably drunk already, took a long tipsy bow before falling back onto her seat behind her arcing drum set arranged around her. And then, a tall threatening man who bore a lightning shaped scar across one of his eyes, smiled fiercely, flipping the strap to his guitar over his burly neck. Across the room a man's swooning voice rang out, "LAXUS!" Natsu grinned at his friends on stage, they were all from Fairy Tail, all his family. Though this was the first time he'd come to see them perform.

Mira waved cheerily to the crowd, the bass guitar hanging from her shoulders. The petite white-haired beauty was the crown jewel of Fairy Tail, but while her feminine grace was not to be questioned, neither did it pull from her place in an alternative rock band. She was the she-devil after all.

And then, Natsu's heartbeat took a quick spike. Across the table, Erza watched him with a knowing smirk.

The cool foster-brothers strode onto the stage both dressed like the rest of the group, in all black. Gray sat down, the top of his black silk shirt unbuttoned, revealing the top of his pale chest to the spotlights. In his hands, his golden sax shone, while an even larger sax sat on a stand next to him. Lyon took center-stage, standing behind the mic.

Caughing, he put down his beer next to the stand. "Thanks for everyone for coming. Sorry for having to postpone until tonight. Everyone here," Lyon looked to each of his bandmates in turn, "in Icemake would like to thank The Frozen Emperor for hosting us again and for being so flexible." Taking a swig from his beer, he smiled. "Why don't we get started with tonight with an oldie. Here's to everyone who spent the last two days putting it all on the line up in the mountains." Lyon inclined his beer to the audience and Cana slapped her snare.

Gray leaned back, a husky tone drawing from his sax as he filled the room with a powerful timbre. Dropping into a low growling voice, Lyon began the opening line of, "Old Time Rock and Roll," paying homage in the tone of his voice to Bob Seger.

An hour passed as the band sunk down into a drifting swaying beat, carrying the softly moving crowd with them into their souls. Lyon leaned back on a barstool, bringing the mic up to his lips. "Alright folks, I think we have just about enough in us for one more." From his pocket, he pulled out a crinkled piece of paper, and he stared down upon the writing for a while before looking up to the audience again. "We are going to end with a song by our very own Gray Fullbuster," shifting to his side, he gave his brother a smirk.

"Now, this song was literally just written. It doesn't have a name yet, and if you'll forgive me, I'm going to keep the lyrics right out here. Or," he turned to Gray with a mischievous look, "how about we get Gray here to sing his song?" When Gray didn't budge, Lyon addressed the audience, "come on, who wants to hear Gray sing this song?"

The crowd erupted with applause, whistles accenting the response. Without even knowing it, Natsu was banging his hands together, his head in a fog, a blissful grin arching his lips.

But Gray just rolled his eyes, and sucked the spit from his sax through his reed. He had drifted with the night to his bigger, deeper tenor sax.

Laughing, Lyon shook his head. "You know, one of these times we are going to get you to come out from behind that sax. Well, I guess you all just have to suffer through just one more with me at the mic." He gave a quick nod to Laxus who started high, rolling down the neck of his guitar in biting thirds, until it dropped into a low and solemn riff.

As it leveled out near the bottom of human emotion, Mira and Cana joined in with dark rolling bass. Lyon pulled the mic to his lips and began in a deep drawing raspy tone that tore from the back of his red throat. Gray accented the lines following Lyon's voice with a growling tenor melody.

 ** _The sky is going up in flames  
_** ** _In a dream, you threw it all away  
_** ** _Set a match, and turned it all to ash  
_** ** _But I know with me lies the blame_**

 ** _Still I won't let go  
_** ** _Because through the smoke I see the stars  
_** ** _Oh, it's you . . ._**

 ** _I feel the walls closing in,  
_** ** _The lock click echoin'  
_** ** _Through my hollow heart  
_** ** _Because I watch the flames to start_**

 ** _And you wonder why  
_** ** _I won't ever say no, never say it's done.  
_** ** _Well it's you . . ._**

Everyone cut off, leaving Gray alone as he jerked to his feet, his back arching, as his tenor sax's gravelly tone dominated. Closing his midnight blue eyes, he let himself drift away into his music as he rolled through long tones, clashing them with sudden breaks. When the mid-scale notes stopped on a dime, the entire club dropped into a complete silent void. Just as the silence drew at them uncomfortably, pulling them for the next melody on a baited breath, Gray's sax would breath a strong growling tone. On the last silence, Natsu almost fell off his chair as he leaned forward, pulled as if by a strand of magic. Tilting the bell of his tenor sax level with his neck, Gray climbed into a high clear pure tone. It carried on and on. Natsu's breath caught in his chest, as his mouth gaped and he watch wide-eyed as the steady note carried, washing over him and piercing through his heart.

As it finally fell, squeezing into a silence, Lyon started again in a moved emotional voice.

 ** _While the sky turns black  
_** ** _Won't you tell me once and for all,  
_** ** _Please,  
_** ** _Am I part of the cure,  
_** ** _Or am I the disease?_**

 ** _How could you question if  
_** ** _The sun would ever shine again?  
_** ** _When it's with you . . ._**

 ** _I find myself stuck.  
_** ** _In the center of this spider web.  
_** ** _I struggle to find that ray of light,  
_** ** _Just for that,  
_** ** _Oh, for that one sign_**

 ** _That you will find your answer  
_** ** _And the clouds will part  
_** ** _For light to shine through the holes  
_** ** _And you might find,_**

 ** _While the world burns down  
_** ** _You'll just sit and cry.  
_** ** _So before you throw that match,  
_** ** _Just look to the sky, and see_**

 ** _Oh, honey,  
_** ** _It shines for you . . . only you._**

"Thank you." The crowd, mostly filled with firefighters from Fairy Tail jumped to their feet, clapping wildly. Gray smiled, thankful for everyone who shared the moment with him. The bandmates joined in a line at the front of the stage, wrapping their arms over eachothers' shoulders, taking a bow as the clapping escalated.

"Holy shit," Natsu airily said, collapsing back into his chair. The two couples at the table embraced each other, taking the moment to show their partner's how much they loved the other. Zeref just sat there, frowning, unsure of what was going on.

Without remembering moving, Natsu stood at the edge of the stage, calling out to Gray who was bent over, stuffing a cleaner stick into his alto sax before placing it into a case. Gray cocked an eyebrow, "Natsu?"

"That was absolutely amazing, Gray."

Blushing lightly, Gray rubbed the back of his head, as the corner of his lip quirked. "Thanks, this is the first time you've come right?"

Nodding, Natsu let out an awkward chuckle. His blood felt on fire. What the hell was going on with him? Shoving the brown bag into Gray's hands, Natsu's cheeks burned a light pink.

Frowning, Gray took the bag. "What's this?"

"It's a birthday present." And with that, Natsu about faced and beelined for the front door. He breathed in deep the icy cold air outside. It did little to chill his burning blood, but it helped to calm his nerves.

Completely confused, Gray stared at the retreating back of the pink haired man. When he disappeared, he looked down to the gift in his hands. Tilting it, a small thin rustic blue covered book line with a gold print inlay fell into his fingers. The gold spelled out the name, Frost. Looking up again to the door, Gray frowned deeper.

Flipping open the front cover, Gray stared at the swooping black letters scribed in pen upon the back of it

 **We can't live if we don't keep running forward. The minute you think of giving up, think of the reason why you held on so long.**  
** **-Natsu**

"Gray, want to grab a drink?"

….

"Gray!"

"Huh?"

Lyon laughed lightly, tilting his head a little. "I asked if you wanted to grab a drink."

Blinking, Gray gazed up at his brother as seconds ticked by, before he snapped the book closed in his palm and grabbed the handles of both of his sax cases. "Sorry, I have something I need to do."

Bewildered, Lyon scratched his head as he watched his brother hurriedly take off.

"Lyon-sama, I thought you were really amazing."

Shaking his head back to his present surroundings, Lyon's jaw dropped as he registered Juvia's blue hair in front of him.

* * *

Gray knocked on the door again, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Gray?" Natsu fell back a step, stunned, "what's up?"

"Come on." Gray nodded to the side, signaling the pink-haired man to follow him away from his room.

"What?"

Gray smiled softly. "Don't you want to learn how to dance?"

* * *

A/N: **This is a direct quote of Natsu's in Fairy Tail.

Mashima, Hiro. Fairy Tail. 2014

For those of you who don't know who hell jumpers are, I'd thoroughly recommend looking them up. They are also know as smoke jumpers. Basically, they are an amazing group of people who fight wildfires far away from accessible land. They have to parachute into the fire to fight it, absolutely amazing. If you are interested, I'd recommend reading "Chasing Fire," by Nora Roberts. It's a fantastic read, and not only is it a great story but you'll get a chance to learn a lot about smoke jumpers.

The book Natsu gave Gray as a birthday present is a collection of poems by Robert Frost. He is my favorite poet, and the exact book I described (minus Natsu's writing on the inside) is one of my most treasured possessions. Mine has words written in it by someone I love.

To avoid copyright issues, please note that the only use of music within my stories will be in citation of titles and singers/bands. If you want the full experience, I'd recommend playing the song if you don't already know it. Any song I mention is a great song by the way, so you should listen to it anyway. Any lyrics in my writing will have references in my favorite artists, but are completely my own literary work.

Let me get up on my little soapbox for a second about wrongful use of intellectual property. As lame as it is not to be able to use lyrics that I want, I would much rather respect the artists than steal their work. Even if I claim it as theirs, it is still against US copyright laws to use any lyrics that are not public domain (90 years since the artist passed). Please help stop the growing problem of intellectual property theft.

 **Next chapter: Rhythm of a Heartbeat**


	5. Rhythm of a Heartbrat

**A/N:** I had a ridiculously hard time writing this chapter. I've been working on a murder mystery lately and it made writing back in Teach Me To Dance more of a challenge than I realized it would be. I ended up writing it and throwing it out twice. The first two attempts ended up way too serious and dark. Hopefully, this version works and you enjoy it, let me know.

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Rhythm of a Heartbeat**

"You don't have to do this."

"Obviously I know I don't have to."

Natsu stood awkwardly in Gray's room. Almost immediately once the door had closed behind them, Gray had thrown off his shirt, leaving Natsu fighting his desire, and averting his eyes. He locked onto the white gold small sax on its stand in front of Gray's oaken dresser. "No, I mean, with Ur's memory and all."

Gray's icy eyes snapped to the pink haired fighter. He leaned heavily against his desk's edge as his brow dropped. "What do you know about Ur?"

"I'm sorry. I overheard you and Lyon talking the night we played tennis. I shouldn't have eavesdropped. It was something really private and I didn't mean to intrude like that. But, at least it made me understand why you didn't want to teach me. So, really, I get it. You don't have to do this. I know it hurts."

Letting out a heavy breath, Gray turned his back to his desk. He tapped at its edge idly with his fingertip. "I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't want to, idiot." Gray threaded his fingers back through his raven hair. He didn't need that stab of pain that the flash of Ur's face brought to his chest. "Okay, look, I just don't want to think about it, okay? But I want to do this. You giving me that book of Frost's poems, what you wrote, that was really sweet. And . . . it just made me want to do this, so," palming his face, Gray groaned internally. What the hell was he saying? How could he give voice to what he was feeling when he didn't even understand it? By all rights he shouldn't want to teach the squinty-eyed bastard how to dance, and yet he did. "I want to teach you, do you still want to learn how to dance?"

Natsu just nodded, wringing his interlocked fingers nervously. "Yeah, I do."

Bobbing his head, Gray decided it was best to just drop everything. He couldn't have found what the hell he was thinking with a flashlight and a map, so what use was there in complicating things by continuing to say things he would come to regret as soon as they passed his lips? Along those lines, he jumped straight into it. "How is your rhythm?"

"My rhythm?" Natsu blinked repeatedly, taken aback a touch by the sudden question.

"Yeah, your sense of beat. How well do you recognize the beat of a song, and how steady do you keep that beat?"

"I – well, I can keep a beat just fine . . . I think. I mean . . . what?"

The corners of Gray's lips bent with a small chuckle. "Alright, how about we just see for ourselves?" Bringing up his palms near his face, Gray started a regular repeating clap. After four claps, the fifth would be slightly louder, more pronounced. "This is as basic as it gets, four-four. Four beats in a measure."

"Uhh, measure?"

Swiping a tongue over his lips, Gray laughed a little. "It's a metric of music, but," he shook his head while he continued to clap, "don't worry about that. What's important right now are the basics." He stopped, holding his hands together while he thought for a second. "We only have a couple months, so we are just going to do a crash course. You mainly want to learn how to slow dance. A romantic couple's dance with Lucy, right," Gray added at the confused expression quirking Natsu's brow.

"Lucy?" Natsu scratched at his head, frowning intensely.

"Yeah, didn't you say you wanted to learn so you could dance with her in December?"

"Oh . . . uhh . . . yeah, right."

Nodding, Gray resumed his steady regimented clapping. " 'Kay. Then we'll stick with the basics. It isn't that hard. First, and most important is how well you can keep a beat. Icemake will be the music that night, so it's going to be a pretty wide range of tempos and styles. But, we should focus you on the slow songs where this will be relevant and go from there. Let's just start with your meter, so just clap along with me, 'kay?"

Natsu shook his head. He had absolutely no clue what Gray was saying. Honestly, he probably wasn't paying that much attention. He felt inexplicably drawn to the shadows the desk light was throwing over the vales of Gray's defined abs. The way his torso moved with each clap. But, when Gray bade him to follow along, he started bringing his hands together.

After a few minutes, Gray pursed his lips, "Okay not bad." Not great, but not bad. " 'Kay, then let's try it with some music. Clap along with the beat, okay?"

Natsu nodded in reply. Gray looked down to his phone, scrolling through his ocean of music. His diamond blue eyes were calculating with each song track that he scrolled past. Finally, he settled on the Eagles, "Peaceful Easy Feeling." The Eagles would be perfect, nice and structured with a pretty steady beat throughout.

The pink-haired firefighter grew intensely serious as he stared into oblivion, focused on the melody that swept out of Gray's tall black tower speakers.

"Hear the beat? The base drum keeping time underneath the guitar, in the background below the lyrics?"

Natsu closed his eyes, focusing, before he brought his hands together and echoed the beat in his ear with his palms.

Gray leaned back on his desk, watching Natsu with a playful amusement dancing upon his lips. Damn it, the pinky was definitely cute. His chest started to beat in a way he couldn't put words to while he watched that determined set upon Natsu's tanned face. He shook his head, trying to throw away the image that was gathering in his mind. "Okay, don't wait for the beat. You hear it, so anticipate now. Clap exactly when the drum pedal would hit, not when you hear it."

The raven arched his brow as the beat suddenly went syncopated, the drum and claps growing sixteenths apart. He tapped the pause button. "You got a little off. You want to be aligned with that beat. It's the line you follow while you dance. Here, try again, open yourself up and listen."

It took only a matter of seconds before the music stopped again. Gray sat down on the edge of his bed, next to Natsu.

The fighter jumped, his eyes shooting wide as cold hands enveloped his.

Gray's lip quirked. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I want you to try something. You are more used to a beat than you probably realize. Everything you do, every part of it follows the beat of your heart. You hear it, pounding in your ears when you run, right? You feel the steady rapid beat while you face down a fire? It's the same here. Forget about the music and just listen to your natural rhythm." When his only reply was a confused blank stare, Natsu brow crumpling, Gray chuckled. "Here, try this." And he stared into those emerald eyes as he brought Natsu's hand over his chest.

The blush was instant. Natsu's cheeks burned an inferno as he felt the cold smooth skin underneath his palm. "Wh-What are you doing!?"

"Shhh. Just relax." Gray pressed Natsu's hand to himself harder. Normally, he mused, Natsu wouldn't have been able to feel the beat of Gray's heart through his chest, but as it was, it was hammering unnaturally loud. "Do you feel my heartbeat?"

Natsu's hand shook against the cold skin, but he nodded jerkily. "Y-yeah. Gods, your heart is going really fast." But not as fast as his own, he didn't deign to say aloud.

"Yeah, well . . . anyway. Just feel that beat. Feel it against your hand. Don't think about it, just feel its steady pulse. Mmk, good. Now, look at me, Natsu."

The fighter, shook his head rapidly, resolute in his study of the wall.

"Natsu, what's wrong? Just look at me."

Biting down hard on his cheek, Natsu slowly swiveled. His heart jumped in his own chest. Those icy blue eyes pierced him. A javelin lanced through his body, shooting his limbs numb to the world. Vertigo twisted as the world spun while he rooted in place, frozen in time.

"Natsu?"

"Huh?"

"You okay? You have a really weird look on your face."

If his cheeks burned before they were molten now. He could actually feel the heat radiating off of his skin. Gods, he was going to catch fire! "Uhh," Natsu locked his jaw, closing his lips tight, and shook his head in small swipes.

A black brow arched, though Gray just allowed himself a small smile. Hell if he knew what was going on, but that look was too priceless. It was innocent in a way, like a little boy, yet it spoke of a pulsing aura that no simple comparison could pin down. "You okay to continue?"

Not trusting his tongue which had suddenly grown thick and parched, like an old tome under layers of dust buried in the desert, Natsu nodded jerkily.

"Just let yourself feel the natural beat, calm down and just feel it." Tapping his fingers with each heartbeat upon Natsu's knuckles Gray watched Natsu with a small smile playing on his lips. "Good, you feel it now, you feel the steady natural tempo? Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump, one-two, one-two, one-two." Releasing his hold on Natsu's hand, Gray laughed. "Now you go. Just tap along with the heartbeat as if it were as natural to you as your own. It's the normal tempo all life takes, just feel it and tap with it."

His eyes locked onto Gray's as if by an all-consuming enchantment, Natsu slipped seamlessly into those blue worlds. He felt himself being pulled away from his body, drawn out and away from the corporal and into a world so foreign to him. But it called, and he answered. His hand tapped against the cold pale skin over the hard and defined pectoral.

Gray smiled wide, nodding approvingly. "Good. Good! That's exactly it. Do you feel how you are not just mimicking the beat? You're becoming part of it, moving with it. That's it!" The raven let him continue for a little while, ensuring that it really sunk in deep. He always took it for granted, growing up with music, but so many didn't. So many didn't feel the beat of the world pulsing around them. Didn't feel their own song within the cacophony of humanity. "Alright, good. Now let's move on."

It was wrong, he realized, to try and hear Natsu's rhythm through playing music. First he would have to become a part of it so that it wasn't such a distant world. "How do you feel about singing some Gospel with me?"

Natsu blinked, dumbfounded. And then he cursed at himself internally. How many times was this stripper going to completely startle him in one night? Gods, his heart was still pounding hot blood in his ears. "I – uhh – I'm not religious."

At that, Gray let out a small chuckle. "Neither am I, but you don't have to be religious to sing Gospel. It's not really even about religion. It's about bringing together people, about raising them up in a shared voice and in a shared life. Through this they can connect themselves with others, feel what it is to be a human being free of any and all chains."

Natsu's lips bent into a wide awkward smile. "Well, then I guess I can do that!" But then, he full registered what he had agreed to commit himself to. "You and . . . me . . . we are going to sing?"

"Is that a problem?"

No, I mean . . .yes. I don't know how to sing. It's going to sound-"

Gray's laughter reached a higher merry tone and he gave Natsu a shove. His shoulders bounced. "I wasn't expecting you to be a trained opera singer, Natsu! You'll be fine."

"But," Natsu bit his lip, crumpling the bed sheets under his fist, drawing them into a lump under his coiling fingers. "What about you? You didn't want to sing your song tonight."

"Natsu, again, I wouldn't have brought it up if I didn't want to do it. Singing in Icemake, singing my song, and this . . . they're completely different. Here, it's just you and me." Gray looked up to the ceiling, thinking for a second. He looked back to Natsu with a broad smile stretching his lips. "Let's do a song that you should've heard before. It should be simple enough.

"Now while we sing, I want you to clap with me, move with me. Feel it within you. Let yourself get absorbed into the song. The rhythm is a part of you, and you are going to," his smile grew cheekier, "let it shine." And with that, he brought his hands together, his bare torso twisting and bumping along with the beat. His head rocked, loose on his neck. He winked at Natsu,

 _"Oh, this little light of mine."_ He laughed lightly as he elbowed Natsu firmly in the side. "Come on, sing along."

Feeling like a little child, he mumbled, " _I'm gunna let it shine."_

Gray nodded, smiling even brighter.

Natsu floated back to his room an hour or so later. Gods, his body was still in shock. Never in his life had he experienced so many sudden jolts to his nervous system. When he flopped onto his bed, he stared at the dark ceiling with a foolish grin for a while, until he cheerily said goodnight and turned over, yanking the covers of his shoulders.

Though, no one heard him. Zeref's bed was empty.

* * *

The small empty fire chief's office echoed with a harsh smack as Gildarts slammed his palms against the worn wood of his desk. Atop it, the small Chief Makarov stared at the wall with an utterly empty expression drooping his proud white mustache. His tiny arms clenched behind his back.

Gildarts let out a growl, curling his hand into a fist, punching the hard unyielding desk again. "This can't be happening again!"

"All the calling cards are the same."

"It's a copy cat."

"We never leaked most of the details, Gildarts."

"No, it's a fucking copy cat! I refuse to believe we are going to be going through this shit again!"

Makarov sighed hard, pinching the bridge of his aged brow. "We should call a meeting of the senior staff, tomorrow."

For the tenth time in the last minute, Chief Gildarts held up the photos from the Magnolia Crest Wildfire. And then glared to the other, crumpled in his quaking fist. "This can't be happening again." A hollow thud rang again through the office lined with the feral snarl of the chief. His shoulders tensed, his fists tight at his sides. He was going to kill him this time. "Fuck tomorrow, call them now. If this is really his come back tour we need to be as prepared as we can be."

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 2 of 6**


	6. 2 of 6

**Chapter 6: 2 of 6**

" _Here, babe, you're a little stiff." His touch sent shivering icy spikes through Natsu's entire system. Raw electricity jumped up his spine from where the strong hands glided to the bare skin of his hip. His breath brushed against the back of Natsu's neck, and he leaned back into it, moaning lightly. "Just move your hips a little more, you're doing great. So beautiful. So hot."_

 _With that, Gray dug his fingers into Natsu's hips, pulling him tight against the curves of his body. Behind him, Gray gyrated, his hips swinging, rocking with the small of Natsu's back. Those strong cool hands traced over his stomach as they rocked together, smoothly shifting with all Gray was pressed up tight against him._

 _Natsu dropped his head back, breathing hard. His face felt an inferno, his chest thundering. Those fingers danced over his skin, tingling electricity jumping over his abs. His breathing was starting to grow ragged. Natsu let his hands wander up blindly behind him. And he grazed his touch over the defined cut muscle. The man was perfect. Like smooth, hard marble. Dropping his chin down, Natsu's eyes drifted closed as he let himself be swept away while they ground together. A small smile tugged at his lips. "I really like that stripping habit of yours."_

Natsu smiled in his sleep, snaking his arm under his pillow. His cheek rubbed against the soft white down, his naked body sensuous to the light touch of the sheet over his bare, corded back. It tickled his skin, from his strong toned shoulder down his firm sides, smooth and cottony as he twisted, pushing himself against his mattress. With his eyes still closed, he whimpered into his pillow.

 _"Mmm, Natsu, come here." In the strong hands, Natsu was spun, until they came face to face. Gray stared directly into him, those shining blue eyes majestic crystal, deep with roiling emotion and lust. Natsu traced his hands up between them, enjoying the long svelte journey, running over smooth defined muscle. It rippled underneath his touch. So soft, so amazing. His palms stopped over hard and rolling pecs. Underneath the burning pale skin, a strong cadence thrummed against his touch. It beat life into him, drumming coursing bass._

 _The small distance between them began to drift away as Gray leaned in. His eyelids closed slowly over glacier blue love. Natsu glanced down to those welcoming red lips, drawing him closer, pulling him off the edge of the dock and into the wide wild ocean's tides. His breath tickled against Natsu's lips._

 _An ear-piercing shriek split the air._

 _Gray jerked back, frowning hard._

 _The shriek echoed, reverberating through Natsu's body, shaking him to the core. It faded only to return, again and again, piercing._

On the bed, Natsu's long naked frame tensed. His muscles clenched taut, his fingers digging into the sheets. He jerked up from his bed, the siren's wail high, filled with pain and grief. Jumping off his bed, his body was in auto-pilot, throwing himself into some clothes before dashing out of the room.

* * *

Chief Gildarts leaned heavy against the lip of his desk, his forefinger jabbing a hammer's thrum against the hard wood. Upon the old and weathered top, the old wrinkled and ridiculously small Chief Makarov paced back and forth. His tiny fists were jammed in a ball at the small of his back. His small fire boot heels smacked against the wood, mixing into a cacophony with Gildart's hammering.

Tap-Tap-pound-tap-pound-sliiiiiide

Pound-Tap-Tap-sliiiiiiide

The small gathered group of lieutenants: Erza, Laxus, Mirajane, and Zeref each stood stiffly in the small room. Beside them, Captain Conbolt raked his fingers back through his hair, grabbing at the ends and tugging with clenched fists until they pulled sharp against his skull. "Are we sure it's the same guy, not a copy cat?"

Gildarts' pounding on the table ceased. He stared long and hard at the small gathered group. "No, Macao. It's the same god-damn guy. He left this." Flinging a paper across the table, it flew, sliding to a stop at the other end in front of the tense young, though seasoned, fighters.

Laxus picked up the paper, drilling holes through it with his burning cobalt glare. Lightning could have crashed in the room and still not have had the presence of the anger building up in the towering muscular blond haired lieutenant.

 _The last prayers of the days gone by have gone unanswered._

 _Sins lay bare._

 _The world we be but tinder,_

 _For the fire to the heavens will tear._

 _Upon this ground still walks_

 _The shadow of my greatest sin._

 _Until the blight be drawn_

 _I will pray again for ablution begin._

 _One of six has been sent skyward_

 _With the trees set aflame._

 _If only to be smoke in the wind,_

 _I will pray on._

"Six prayers."

"This can't be happening again," Macao's fist shook by his side. "How many died last time? How many are going to die this time?"

Gildarts' fist slammed a thundering bang against his desk. The sheer force of it almost crumbled the strong aged wood to dust. "We are going to stop him this time. Everyone here knows the pain we felt last time. This son-of-a-bitch took one of the finest fighters from this earth last time. This time we get him. And I will see just how much he likes fire as it licks over his skin and he melts in his own evilness.

"Now, listen," Gildarts smacked both of his palms flat against the desk, staring fiercely at his gathered team. "We are going to win this one, do you hear that? We are going to be on top of this. Be ready for the worst. You will lead your teams and you are responsible for all of them. There will be traps. There will be situations where you might find the walls on fire, collapsing all around you. But, we will get through this together, all of us."

"So are we just going to play this guy's sick game again?" Laxus snarled.

Beside him, Erza cracked her knuckles. "I'll show him a fun game he can play." Her eyes lit dangerously. She smiled thinly.

"We are going to fight whatever he sets. But we will be doing more than reacting to his whims this time."

"What are we going to do?" Macao crossed his arms tight over his chest.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"We'll figure it out."

A piercing siren's scream split the tension in the air, sliding into each of the fighters' veins like molten fire. In each of their eyes, dangerous blades were sharp and ready for the kill. Gildarts nodded slowly. "Round two. All available teams on this one. I want only the barest station." With that, the senior staff scattered, rushing out of the room in a cold fury. Each sought blood, and vowed silently as they hurried to the ready-room, that they would taste it long before the sixth fire burned.

The antique brass phone on Gildarts desk rang with a sharp bell's twang. The room was silent for thirty seconds, until it met its receiver again. The blown stained glass fish on Gildarts' desk shattered against the far wall. "Magnolia Memorial Hospital," Gildarts growled to Makarov, low, rumbling, and feral.

* * *

Fixing the headset around his ear, wrapping the hard plastic around the back of his skull, Gildarts stared with dangerous eyes out the engine's window as it screamed down the pre-dawn, early morning, barren downtown Magnolia streets. The red and yellow pulsing lights of the engine bathed the surrounding towering building with an eerie ethereal glow.

"Zeref," Gildarts spoke, his voice like stone, "tell me about this _thing_." He refused to say man again. The truth was that the thing behind these fires was no man. He had no heart. He had no soul. He was a destructive, evil demon.

"Not much to say," Zeref wove the engine around the tight city grid corner, barely slowing the fire engines thundering pace. He led the line of the screaming stampede, two more engines right on his tail.

Gildarts glanced at the driver, scowling. Zeref's face had been completely devoid of any emotion the entire night. That was on par for Lieutenant Dragneel, but he had expected to see something more. After all, it was the last fires where . . . Gildarts dry swallowed hard, a sickening knot sliding in his guts at just the memory. "You saw him. You were the only one to see him. You got closer than anyone else."

"I just saw him as he ran out of the apartment building. It was fleeting, he quickly ducked around a corner after he set the primer fires. I didn't get a good look at him. It was dark."

"No one else was with you?"

"You know the report, Chief. I was the first on the fourth floor and the only one to see him."

"And you can't give us anything?"

"He was probably in his forties or so, by the way he moved. He was built, tall, and strong, but definitely not as agile as he probably once was."

"Mmm," Gildarts settled back into the hard-backed seat. "At least that gives us something. It's been six years since the last Deliora Fires, so maybe he'll have slowed down. Maybe he'll slip up, somewhere."

"Wouldn't count on it, Chief. This is his third performance. He was a pro twelve years ago, and he's all that time to hone his twisted mind."

"Twelve years," Gildarts growled. "What is this thing's fascination with the number six? Twelve years ago, Gildarts had just been settling into his fifth seasoned year as a fighter. He thought he'd seen it all. Fought it all. Practically had, until that sick fuck came along. Then, six years ago, when they lost the best friend he ever had. Now. "We'll get him this time. We _will_ get him."

* * *

The hospital was in chaos when the teams jumped out of the trucks. Natsu shouldered on his oxygen tank, taking a long look at the six story hospital. Black coiling smoke writhed and wrapped into the sky from the windows, tainting it against the blood red of the rising sun. The horizon was on fire behind the old brick hospital building at the center of Magnolia. Zeref popped out next to Natsu, putting a hand on his shoulder. "For Dad, Natsu. For Dad." Together they jogged into the inferno.

The paramedics had been faster. Their smaller ambulances were quicker to the scene than the huge crowds of fighters pouring into the building in five-man teams. As Natsu made it through the front door, he saw a flash of raven-hair underneath full fighter gear. He turned long enough to let his heart give one beat and hope for Gray's safety, before he buried it all underneath his fighter's soul.

* * *

 _Gods, so hot. So heavy._ Gray muttered internally. He wouldn't let the mountains weighing him down, nor the fires burning in the shadows of his memories, slip out of his mouth. But, he tugged at the back of his shirt, cringing as it stuck to his skin. The sweat had soaked it. It burned his eyes just the same.

Gray leaned back against the grill of the lead ambulance, panting hard. No matter how hard he drew for breath, clean air never seemed to fill his lungs. Shifting more of his weight against the cool metal, Gray stared long and hard at the black parking lot beneath his boots. So black, so devoid of life. And yet, a faint ghastly red danced over its skin in a deathly mocking gleaming dance.

The night had quickly gone from bad to worse. And with every second that passed, it just continued to slip down that slide toward horrible. He could barely feel his feet, sure that if it weren't for the truck supporting him he would have crumbled to the floor. The burning in his calves and quads had long since given way to a numb jelly. How many stairs had he sprinted up? The same stairwell, over and over. Lyon and him had begun at fifth floor, the top of the old brick hospital, where the air was so thick from the smoke below that more times than not he had slammed himself headfirst into a wall rather than the opening of a doorway. And the thickly clawing fingers of the smoke bathed his lungs even through his oxygen mask.

But they had saved forty-two patients so far. As it was mostly geriatrics, most had to be carried down, stretchy, IV tree, portable monitors, and all. But that wasn't what had taken its toll on him. No, it seemed that at every turn if something could go wrong, it inevitably did. And it would explode straight in his face just for the hell of it. Ceilings collapsed. Stairwells were overtaken by flame. Smoke seemed to continue to pack itself into an impenetrable black wall.

The morning wasn't going much better for the fighters taking to the fire head on, Gray knew. Something was seriously wrong inside that hospital. The fire had the upper hand. It had a deck full of tricks, and it never seemed tired of pulling out a new joker. Already, three fighters were lying supine on the hard dead parking lot. Exposed skin was burned to a sickening black crisp. Flashes seemed to come from nowhere. That's what they told the emergency medics tending them. It was as if the fire knew exactly how they were going to go after it. It knew.

Cold water shocked Gray's system. His eyes wide at the sudden sensation overload, he watched the cool liquid trailing past his dirtied face. It tinkled as it fell to the ground below. Shaking himself, he looked to Lyon beside him who swigged back the few remaining drops from his bottle. He bore a small cheeky grin in reply to Gray's glare. "You about ready, Stripper?"

"Bite me, Snowman." Gray couldn't help but smile back at his idiot of a brother. He tugged his helmet back on, fastening the buckles under his jaw. And feeling just one more suffocating weight threatening to snuff him out. So hot. They headed back into the fire and took to the steps two at a time, bee-lining for hot rescue 43.

Gray grunted, kneeling by the bed. On top of it, a young boy, no more than twelve stared at them with wide panicked saucers of muddy brown. In his small arm was a plethora of leads feeding out from a symphony of beeping instrumentation beside the bed's head. Lyon snatched the clipboard at the foot of the bed, flipping over the documentation.

He cursed. Cystic Fibrosis. Gods. This smoke was almost certain death for the kid. Without a second thought, he ripped off his oxygen mask, jamming it over the boy's terrified face. He fastened the leads behind his head and offered him a smile. "It's going to be okay, Jason. We are going to get you out of here." He gave the boy a small pat on the hand. And, he ignored the glare from Gray that was both desperation and fear at removing his mask. "Gray, quickest and lowest."

Rather than arguing with his brother who was sure never to change his mind, Gray wordlessly helped him slide the boy onto the waiting stretcher. At the machines, he took a snap judgment of which were monitors and which were life-saving. Hospital experience, it seemed, had its advantages in the field some times.

Taking the steroid respirator and IV line with him to the top of the stretcher, Gray crouched, ringing his hands around the solid handholds. He gave Lyon a quick firm nod.

It happened when they reached the stairwell.

One step, and fire erupted.

Gray couldn't tell the direction of the flame. It swallowed them whole as if it were laying in wait behind the corner just for them. The searing heat bit sharp fangs at his skin. Down his spine a million searing pinpricks blazed. Gray's world went black with the explosion at his back. Lifeless, Lyon, Gray, and the small fragile boy flew into the air with the breath of the fire's open throat. Helpless, the flew.

The stretcher smashed into Gray at the hip, nearly rending him in two. The boy was thrown from it as they tumbled. Lyon crashed down hard, his arms behind him meeting the stair with a sickening crack. Down two flights, the three fell, rolling, slamming into each other as often as the sharp jagged edges of stair. Gray slammed back against the wall, the last bits of air punching out of him. Blackness flashed.

But – he coughed hoarsely – he rolled over onto his hands. His face inches from the warm floor, Gray fought bitterly to push his obstinate frame off the ground. Blood poured down into his eyes, and though he tried to blink it away, it fell over his vision, blurring the world in a deep dark red. Gritting his teeth, Gray shoved himself up, digging the ball of his foot under him as he pushed himself standing. Gray swiped at his forehead, slicking his gloves with his shining blood. He blinked.

His heart stopped.

Lyon was broken. His face lifeless against the floor. His normally pearly skin bore fangs of black burned flesh. His arm jutted out behind him, inverted at the elbow, bone impaling the skin. His mouth was open in astonishment, though his eyes closed. Hurtling forward, Gray threw himself at his brother, slipping deep into the pool of blood that was forming around him.

Tearing at his gloved hand, his bare fingers shook as they jutted out into Lyon's carotid. Gray's jaw trembled. There was the slightest of beat against his quaking fingers. Gray shifted his weight in a crouch, weaving his arms around the still frame. Had to get him out. Had to take care of him. Couldn't lose him.

Couldn't lose him.

* * *

Natsu raked gloved fingers back through his sooty thick hair. It matted down to his skull. "Gods, Zeref." Beside him, the lieutenant just stared at the burning building. Its ruby life shone against his black eyes.

A piercing single blast of a siren rang. Cold metal dripped down Natsu's spine. Another one? Another fighter injured? Gods. Who was it? How bad? Natsu breathed hard, searching from face to face in the parking lot.

He spun around. Not him. Not him. Gods, come on, be out here. Gods, no. Gray?

He saw him as he emerged from the hospital's emergency bay doors. He was so far away, but, Natsu sighed heavily. The fire had left him raw enough not to think about the relief that washed over him when he spotted Gray – clearly it was him, the way he moved – so far away. And without thinking, his boot dug into the rough asphalt as he ran.

Natsu managed to get to the lead ambulance just as Gray did, but what he saw then, he wasn't expecting. He froze, the smile faltering on his lips, dropping into disbelief.

Gray paid him no heed, single minded to one task, to one person, with the rest of the world burning away. Shifting, Gray half-crouched, half-fell onto the gurney at the ambulance's bumper. Lyon slid off from around his shoulders.

Natsu stood, rooted in place. Not sure what to do, panicked. Gray lunged into the back of the truck, tearing at the depleted cabinets. Strings and strings of curses flew out of the truck as one compartment was opened just to be revealed empty and slammed shut again. But, finally, Gray jumped down, his arms piled high. Bags of what Natsu knew not, and white packages that were a mystery to the rooky were left on the bumper's edge.

Swallowing hard, Natsu watched as Gray moved like a specter. His normally cool blue eyes were dangerously frigid. Though the edges burned a painful red. Gray's hands shook horribly as he fumbled with a needle. Whipping his head rapidly, he set his gaze locked on the edge.

Deftly, he slipped it into Lyon's forearm, holding it with one hand clamped tight as his other fed out a long thin tube leading back to one of the strange bags of liquid in the ambulance. Once connected, the clear liquid began to flow. His shoulders trembled as his hands worked over his destroyed brother. He ripped at protective clothing. Blood poured out into his hands. Blood. His brother's blood washed over him. Gray frantically swept his head back and forth, until he found and swiped a sterile pad. Jamming it against Lyon's open and gushing side.

"Gods, nooooo!" Gray's eyes closed tight. Tears shone against his ash covered face as the sun rose. His breaths came out short and ragged. His grip on his brother's side was strong as his chin quivered, the tears streaming down his face, falling off his chin onto Lyon's lifeless body. Shaking his head, his matted down raven hair flicked off the sludge of ash and blood. His voice was in a panic Natsu had never heard before as he screamed. "Somebody help me!"

"Gray."

Cold grey eyes locked onto somewhere around Natsu's location. He didn't really see him. "Hold this!"

Natsu swallowed hard as he stepped forward, pressing his hands beside Gray's. The blood pooled on the other side of the bandage, causing it to slide, an unstable dam at the flood of life fleeing Lyon's frame. Once he had enough pressure against Lyon's side, Gray jumped back to his stockpile of medical tools.

It was in a blur that Natsu watched Gray work. His hands were quick, his medical administrations were exact despite of how horribly his entire body shook. Gray worked over the exposed skin inch by inch, cleaning, cauterizing, emergency stitching, what else, Natsu didn't even understand.

All the while, Gray shook his head slowly. And muttered behind falling tears. "Don't do this, Lyon. Don't you fucking do this." He pushed Natsu down a little, exposing new skin, working the same treatment further down his brother's side. "This is nothing. You hear me, idiot? Nothing! You're going to be fine. Just fine!"

Natsu didn't know what to do, what to think, what to say. He just stood there, watching helplessly as Gray slipped through despair. Yet he continued to work at a lightning fast pace. Suturing and running new lines back to the ambulance.

He wasn't really sure how long it took. It seemed they were on the plains of oblivion for an eternity before other EMTs managed to get to their sides. They worked beside Gray, just as often trying to push and hold him back as attending to Lyon. Natsu looked at Gray, panicked, as he fought helplessly at the two medics pulling him back at the shoulders. He ripped at their grips on him. Elbowing one, he slipped free with the momentary break in his restraint.

"Natsu, help get him back." Wendy, their lead paramedic, took charge over Lyon's body. She continued Gray's work, darting from one life-threatening injury to the next with an unrivaled skill. Natsu just blinked, staring dumbly. Lost. Wendy huphed, her hands freezing, her eyes darting to the monitors in the ambulance's bed. She pursed her lips, nodding in slow bouncing movements. Time seemed to crawl even slower as she worked over him. She murmured to her team working steadily, completely in-tune around her.

Gray's protests had long since given away to tear-filled retching. He crumbled to his knees, clutching at his stomach, though his eyes remained locked on his brother's face.

Finally, Wendy motioned to her team. Lyon's bed was swiveled around and slid into the ambulance's bed. It was only then that she allowed herself to look back at Gray. His eyes were empty, a stormy grey, taking after his name. They pleaded with her. She nodded resolutely in return. "It's going to be okay, Gray. Lyon'll be fine. You saved him." She didn't try adding any false sign of understanding that would have only hurt Gray more. She just stepped up into the ambulance and waved him with her.

Natsu was still frozen in place as Gray climbed in the back of the ambulance, the doors shut, and tires squealed. With the early morning's grace upon its shining red and white hull, the ambulance sped out of the black parking lot and onto the street, its lights flashing.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Old Scars**


	7. Old Scars

**Chapter 7: Old Scars**

He was utterly exhausted. All his energy had been spent. Gods, he never knew firefighting would be so draining on his body. He'd put himself through the ringer again and again, training ever since he had been a little boy growing up underneath the shadow of his awe-inspiring firefighter father. He could sprint for miles on end without coming up short of breath. He could bench an easy three-sixty, nothing left him tired. Yet the last two fires had stripped him. Natsu's footsteps were slow and sluggish down the firefighter dorm hallway.

His pink hair clung to his temples, still wet from his boiling hot shower. The water dripped down onto the worn wood floor with each step offering a light split-splat as he walked. Damn, those last two fires had been pure hell. Stopping at a door, he took in a deep breath. His mind knew he was about to collapse, his body begging him to go straight to his bed and fall face-first into his pillow. But, his heart overruled it all. He knocked on the door.

"Natsu?" Gray frowned, barely able to keep himself standing next to the doorframe. He leaned heavily on the brass door handle.

And Natsu's chest constricted. Gone were the wild blue challenging tempests. The sparking azure plains had dulled into plates of unmoving, sunken slate. He tried for a smile, but his lips only twitched.

"Natsu, I can't teach you tonight."

Just shaking his head slowly, Natsu let out a tight sigh. "I'm not here for that. Thought you could use some company."

"I want to be alone."

"Yeah, I'm sure you do." But, Natsu pushed his way past Gray. It dug claws into his heart that the raven-haired idiot wasn't even putting up a semblance of protest. He just shut the door behind them, walking like a decrepit ghost back to his bed where he collapsed.

Gray sat at its edge, in nothing but a tight fitting pair of blue trunks. His arms hung limp over his knees and he stared silently at the carpeted floor.

Wiping a palm slowly over his face, Natsu fell on the bed's edge next to him, not knowing what else to do. "You look like hell." Natsu scanned over the smooth svelte body of pale skin stretched over tight hard cutting muscle. Across his chest was an ugly black bruise, its edges flanging a mottled blue over his hard-capped shoulder. A thick band of dark set purple and blue ran across his midsection, cutting through the vales of his defined six-pack abs as if sliced by a broad and gnarly jagged blade. Gods, almost every inch of him was covered in some form of bruise or cut.

Gray just grunted, never lifting his eyes off the floor. His breaths were short and shallow. Though he stared intently, his sight was anywhere but the present. Across the dull grey eyes, specters of wicked and buried ghosts swam.

Without a thought, Natsu threw his arms around the cold man, burying his face into the clammy skin just above the shoulder, one of the few patches left unmarred by the night. Tears wavered, building behind his sage eyes screwed shut. "I'm so sorry, Gray."

Frowning hard, Gray was thrown back into his body. He shifted a little to look at the bull-headed stupid rook. Was he really crying? Natsu? The flame-brain? "What are you doing, Natsu?" Though his tone was accusatory, his hand ran up, gliding his fingers softly through the damp pink hair. It felt good. Just to be held. Just to have a connection.

The explosion had ripped apart what remained of Gray's world. And he felt that the pieces didn't sew back together. There were deep aching wounds into which his entire life was slipping away. His body felt hollow. His mind adrift.

Natsu sat up, scraping the back of his hand under his nose as he sniffed back hard. "Sorry," he managed, swiping at his eyes. "I don't know what . . . why I'm here. I didn't mean to . . ."

Sighing, Gray fell back onto the bed, laying flat against it, thought his legs still bent at its edge, his feet planted in the rough shaggy carpet. "It was a fucked up night." Gray closed his eyes, but just as quickly, they shot open again. With the darkness behind his lids, Lyon's blood smeared face flashed. And then . . . the terrified watery eyes of that young boy. His eyes burned as he scrubbed his palms over his face. "Gods."

"How's Lyon?"

Speaking through his palms, Gray managed hoarsely, "he'll be fine. Compound fracture in his ulna, concussion, three broken ribs, helluvalot of internal bleeding . . . but he'll be fine." There was a list that could stretch to the floor with all that was wrong with him, but he couldn't give voice to it all. Gray shook his head slowly underneath his palms. "Going to have to be in the hospital for a while, which is going to piss him off something royal when he wakes up."

"But, that's good. He's going to be okay, I'm so relieved." Natsu didn't dare to bring up the horror of watching Gray work in a dulled panic, his brother's blood pouring out between his fingers. "You should cheer up then! I know it had to be a fucking shock, but you saved him, Gray! He's going to be fine."

His hands slammed down into the sheets at his sides. He stared with a dreaded gaze at the ceiling. His eyes searched across the uniform flat painted white sky, looking for an answer to a question he didn't dare ask.

"Gray?"

"It's not him I'm upset about!" Gray growled with a sudden spark of boiling anger. He jerked up, clenching his fists at his sides before the emptiness inside swallowed him again. "There was a boy."

Natsu blinked slowly. "What?"

"We were carrying out a small boy! Gods, he couldn't have been more than thirteen." Sudden tears roiled underneath Gray's empty eyes. As they spilled down his bruised cheeks, his scratched raw knuckles slammed into his wall. He fell to his knees, his shoulders trembling. Clenching the carpet between his fingers, the tears dripped down into the beige fibers. "I didn't even fucking think about him! As soon as I came to, I saw Lyon. Saw him . . ." Gray buried his forehead against the carpet, digging his fingers into the back of skull while his shoulders quaked.

"I took Lyon and I ran out of there. All I could think . . . I didn't even fucking look back, didn't even look for the boy once! He was a freakin' little kid, he had his whole god damn life ahead of him!"

"Gray . . ."

"No, back the fuck off, Natsu!" Gray screamed into the carpet, the tears streaming, unstoppered rivers into the carpet. "I fucking killed him! It was me, my job, to go get him out of there safely. To take care of him. He has parents, siblings, friends, and they are never going to see him again! And it's all my fault! I should have . . . I should have . . ."

Natsu fell to his knees, slamming his chest against Gray's naked shaking back. He snaked his arms around Gray's sides and squeezed as hard as he could. "What should you have done, Gray? Should you have left Lyon? I saw him, Gray. He wouldn't have lasted another minute if it weren't for you! Should you have looked around for this boy while Lyon died? Would you really feel better then? Fuck that, Gray, you know as well as I do that if Lyon died you wouldn't be here right now. You'd be gone, completely destroyed. Don't you dare do this to yourself for saving his life."

"It was my job to save the boy's first!"

"Screw your job! You single-handedly saved a man who was bleeding more than anyone I have ever seen. You worked so freakin' fast - I couldn't even keep up with your hands - and you saved him! That makes you a hero! And no, you didn't manage to save the boy, Gray, that makes you human. You can't save everyone. You saved who you could."

"I chose Lyon's life over the boy I was supposed to protect, because of what Lyon means to me. How I'm attached! I chose for that boy to die."

"No, god damn it, Gray!" Natsu's forehead thunked hard against the back of Gray's thick skull. "You didn't choose for that boy to die. The sick fuck who lit that fire did. It was him. He killed that boy. And he nearly killed Lyon, if it wasn't for you. It's not your fault. Not even a little bit. It's all him. Everything. It's all his fault." Now, Natsu's fiery green eyes spilt too with fresh tears. His chin trembled.

"Gray, during the Deliora fires. My dad died. He was the best man I ever knew. The strongest. The bravest. The coolest. The most bad ass amazing man ever! And he was the best firefighter there ever was and ever will be. Six years ago . . . it was the fourth arson, a small apartment building down in South Magnolia. There were three people inside when they got there. A mom and two teenage boys. Gray," Natsu openly wept, his eyes flooding, "he managed to get the boys out of there, but when he went back in for the woman, the third floor collapsed from above him. Gray, my dad was the best, and he couldn't save all three of them. He died in that building. He was the best. He is the best. So don't you dare so you could've fucking done the impossible! That you could've saved everyone. 'Cuz you can't." Natsu shook his head slowly, rubbing his nose through the raven locks. "You can't. You can only save who you can."

In his head, the relief of seeing Gray emerging from the hospital burned a thin keen line though he didn't give voice to it. He came out alive, too. Gray didn't die.

Silence crept over them. Their tears began to fade with the passing of time, and they just sat, Natsu behind Gray, with his arms wrapped tight around his stomach. Gray couldn't believe it but even the sharp stabbing ache in his heart receded after a while, if only just a little. Even the slightest withdrawal was a mountain of relief. Gray felt the hot breath at the base of his neck. "I almost lost him, Natsu. Lyon almost died. I don't know what I would've done if I lost him. I . . . I."

"You love him. I know, he's your brother after all."

Gray shook his head slowly, "it's not just that. He's the last person in my life. Everyone who I've ever been close to has died. Every single one. He's all I have left. My only family. The only thing left in my life. If he died, I . . . I think I'd lose what's tying me to this earth. I'd just drift away."

"You saved him, Gray. He's going to be okay."

"Thank you, Natsu," Gray murmured so softly that no normal person could have heard him, though behind, Natsu smiled faintly. Standing, Gray took a single long deep breath, closing his eyes as life drew slowly back into him. Natsu said nothing as their embrace was torn apart. He just stepped back, letting Gray take a second by himself.

He silently looked over the hard lean back in front of him. Though, he frowned, looking at Gray's hip intently. Among the fresh and splotchy bruises that covered the taut, cut muscle leading down, Natsu eyes fell on a strange marking, scarring Gray's skin just above his waistband at the small of his back. His normally pale skin looked oddly white as it disappeared underneath the only clothing Gray wore. His eyes trailed down the defined muscular butt through the blue cotton, down the side of Gray's right leg where the white blemish continued. It sliced down his leg a jagged knife-line cutting between his quad and hamstring, knotting at the knee and trailing to a sickly tapered point at his ankle. His brow fell hard. He took a step closer. How did he never notice that?

With a small smile upon his lips, Gray twisted around, feeling a little like himself again, only to find Natsu with a confused examining glare. He followed the eye-line down to his leg.

"It's from twelve years ago."

Natsu jumped, his eyes wide. He brought up his palms, shaking them rapidly. "I didn't mean to stare."

"It's okay," Gray smiled a little more despite himself. And deep within the grey plains of his eyes, there was a sudden crash of blue lightning. Gray hooked his fingers inside his waistband, drawing his trunks down at the side.

Natsu jumped at him, his tanned face suddenly shooting through with a burning rosy red. "What are you doing!" The steamy images of his dreams rushed front and center in his mind. His heart took a quick double-tap.

But, Gray just slid the cotton down the side of his leg, revealing the long and rough white scar that had been a part of him for so long. His normal skin met the white patch with a twisted gnarly line, sticking out form his otherwise smooth leg. He slid his waistband back up after just revealing the side of his hip. "I got it when my mom died. She saved me, but my pants had caught fire. Before she could rip the pant leg off me, it did that to me. It was so hot, like burning iron against my skin. It branded me just as it washed over my mother, taking her from me.

"When I woke up in the ambulance, my right side from the hip down was a pretty nasty raw red. I had it. And I lost my mother." Gray sat back on his bed, clasping his hands between his knees. "It's been a constant reminder, every day, of when she died. The fire that took her left me marked and broken. Just tossed me aside while it consumed her."

"Gray . . ."

He just shrugged. "Damndest thing is I just have never been able to stand the heat after that. Every time I start to get hot, I start to feel like I'm suffocating. My leg burns. My back stabs me. I can't stand it."

"But then, why did you become a fire medic?"

"Because," Gray's lips tugged, "they saved me. And if I can do anything I'll save who I can in repayment of the life they gave me. The firemen. Ur. My mother. They all risked themselves saving me. Ur and my mom, they gave their lives so I could have mine."

"Gray," Natsu's knee fell on the bed next to Gray's leg as he lunged forward. Their lips crashed together. His heart had long-since flat-lined in his chest. His thoughts had washed away in a strong ripping current, leaving him driven only by the fiery beating of his heart in a sea of calm everglow. Everything vanished, and he lost all control over his body as he took Gray.

Gray's suddenly vibrant blue eyes shot wide at the touch of the fiery man. The force of the emotion burning off of him slammed into Gray, pushing them both back onto the bed. Through Gray's tangled hair, Natsu's burning fingers weaved, his lips sending burning bolts through Gray's body.

Life slammed into Gray from their connection, wave after wave of such intensity crashing against Gray's bared soul. Slowly, Gray's eyelids fell, and he submitted himself. Falling into the fiery embrace of the pink-haired demon. The bond pulled at him, tugging at something deep inside. Something so buried, so carefully locked away, that Gray had nearly forgotten the feeling. His hands drew up to Natsu's tight sides over him as he fell underneath the tidal waves of fire that poured from Natsu's beating heart.

The pure raw feeling that washed over him. It was something divine. Something far too powerful to be a part of man. Dimly, Gray thought of the rook's nickname and smiled into the long deep drawing kiss. This was a dangerous dragon.

Ever so slowly, Natsu pulled back, breaking their embrace as he stood. His burning green eyes were of ethereal flame. "I - I should go."

Gray just stared at the emerald flames, so lost in their shining brilliance. He dry swallowed.

Natsu about bolted to the door. Though as he twisted the knob, he leaned his forehead against the hard wood. His voice was shakingly soft. "I'm glad you made it out of there. And that _you_ are okay." As the door closed behind him, he blinked in surprise at his own brother who was walking down the hallway. Bright pink to rival his strewn spiky hair crept over his cheeks. Turning on a dime, he rigidly walked away.

Zeref frowned, watching Natsu's retreat down the hallway, toward their shared room. Then he glanced at Gray's closed door.

Inside the room, it took Gray a full ten minutes to gather himself back up. Gods, he was blasted right off his feet. It had been more sudden, more forceful, than the blast in the stairwell. It swept a fire into places buried so deep inside. Gray shook his head slowly, unable to contain the grin that spread across his face along with the confusion. The night crept on while Gray sat at his bed's edge, his hands clasped again, staring out into nothing.

When he finally moved, he snaked his bruised and aching body into a pair of jeans and a loose black t-shirt. He picked up the paper he had written on his desk, his eyes scanning down his scrawling letter. Tracing his fingertips slowly over his lips, he tore the paper in two. Stepping toward the door, he decided he would spend the rest of the night at Lyon's side in the hospital.

As the door shut, the two loose scraps of the torn resignation letter blew off of Gray's desk, gliding listlessly on the air as they fell.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Steps**


	8. Close Embrace (Part 1)

**Chapter 8: Close Embrace (Part 1)**

"You should go home and get some rest."

Gray's eyes fluttered open, he wiped at the drool caked onto the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. His blurry eyes barely made out the woman standing over him with a soft palm on his naked shoulder. All he could see was a blur of pink scrubs. "Huh?"

She smiled, patting his shoulder tenderly. Her hand stayed on his skin just a tad too long, lingering like a feather's embrace. "You should go home. Sleep in a bed. His condition isn't going to get better any faster regardless of if you are here or not."

"Mmm," Gray sat up in his rigid chair. His back had been bent at an awkward angle as he fell asleep, his upper body resting on the hospital white sheets of Lyon's bed. Bringing his hand down to the small of his back, he winced as the tight battered and bruised muscles groaned in protest. "I'll stay just the same, thanks."

"You might want to put a shirt on, you're going to get a chill."

"I'm fine."

She stepped closer, running her fingers softly down Gray's shoulder, tracing over his hard pecs, lightly dancing down to his stomach and over the blotchy purple line slicing his torso in two. "Have you gotten this looked at?"

"It's fine."

"I could," she smiled, a shine sparking in her eyes, "perform a physical for you. I know you have medical training, but it always helps to have another pair of eyes. And," her touch ran father south, teasingly light. "another pair of hands."

Gray caught her wrist just as her fingers neared his belt. He held it out, away at arm's length away from him. "I'm fine, really. Thank you."

She just smiled ever wider and ever sweeter, leaning her sharp angled body against him. "It's been such a shock, I'm sure."

"Look, I can only handle so much courtesy," Gray's frigid eyes snapped onto hers. "I am not interested, nor would I ever be. And I find what you are doing distasteful, and quite honestly disgusting. My brother is in a medically induced coma, the morning after almost dying, right here on this bed. Do you really think I'd be interested in you, you female lech? Now," he smiled thinly, letting her hand drop, "if you don't mind leaving before I become uncivil."

After she quickly shuffled out of the room with a huph, Gray fell back into his seat, shaking his head.

"Coulda just told her you were gay."

Gray's chair slammed back against the floor, its metal bars clanging with the cold hospital tile. It upended as Gray lunged for Lyon's hand laying pearlescent over the thin downy white sheet. On the bed, Lyon smiled weekly. Gray squeezed his hand between his, his eyes blurring almost instantly.

Lyon's face tilted a little, his eyes slitting open. "Ah, jeez," he spoke so very softly, "you aren't going to start crying on me are you?"

Shaking his head, Gray's lips bent wide in an uncontrollable smile. "Dumbass." His bottom lip trembled slightly. "Stupid idiot."

Lyon scanned over Gray slowly, a wry smile creasing his battered face. "You stayed here all night didn't you."

"What, you think I'd do that? Care about a bum like you? Please." At that, Lyon managed a small chuckle. "They said you wouldn't wake up for a couple more days."

"Yeah, well hurray for the triumph of modern medicine. Can't beat me."

"You just have to be such a badass all the time, don't you?"

"Damn straight."

"You tore off your oxygen mask."

"Mmm," Lyon turned his head, laying more comfortably against his stiff white pillow. "How's the boy?" He let out a light sigh when no reply came from his brother. "I see." And he shifted in the hospital bed, groggy, and in a slight foggy haze within the clouds of drugs.

Gray sat back in his chair, forcing a smile on his face. He couldn't think about that right then. Truth be told, his mind was completely overloaded. With the boy. With Natsu - Gray traced his fingers absently over his lips in a faint memory's touch. He didn't know it but the action had become a sort of habit during the night. But, he couldn't think about any of that. All that mattered was Lyon. "How are you feeling?"

"You kiddin'? Can't feel a thing! Gods I love morphine! Hey, you know we should sneak some of this outta the ambulance on the next call. Hey, you look like hell."

Scoffing, Gray rolled his eyes at his supine brother. It did his heart good to hear Lyon just like his normal self. So him. So him, to have been caught in an explosion, blown down two flights of stairs, had a damn bone sticking out from his elbow, and be up the next morning cracking wise. "You're one to talk! Do you even know what you look like?"

"Mmm, I can imagine." Lyon's neck rolled slightly, and Lyon's brow fell as he scanned over his brother. "What's with your face?"

"What? I'm happy, obviously, you snowy idiot!"

"Nah," Lyon's lip twitched. "There's something more. What happened while I was out?"

Gray blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Gray, there's . . . something. You know you can't hide anything from me. Fess up."

"It's nothing." He cursed silently at himself. He could feel the heat coming to his face.

"Hmm, should I get the nurse back in here?" Lyon shifted on the bed, pushing himself up to sit a little higher on the utterly stiff uncomfortable hospital plank. No wonder people got better at hospitals - Lyon recalled his past experiences trapped on the bed after the last Deliora fires - it was either get better or stay on that stiff board. "I think you may have suffered a concussion or something worse if you can't recall what is turning your cheeks red. Hold on," he raised his good hand which was not strapped tight against his chest, "I'll call the nurse back."

Rolling his eyes again, Gray caught his brother's hand, bringing it back down to rest by his side. "To be fair, you're the one with the concussion. But, still, why the heck am I such an open book to you?"

" 'Cuz I know you too well. Now out with it."

"It's just, you are the second person to say that to me - that I looked like hell."

"And the first, was?"

"I'd gone back to my room to write a resignation letter -"

"Whoa, hold up! A resignation letter?"

Gray waved his hands between them, shaking his head. "I tore it up. Anyway, uhh, Natsu kind of came in." Suddenly embarrassed, Gray dutifully stared at the ceiling, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Look, it's not something I really have time to think about right now."

"Nope, not getting out of it that easily. And you know who you are talking to. What did I just say? Come on, you've been here all night. You're really going to tell me you haven't been thinking about it?"

"I've been thinking about you."

"Uh-huh, and him too. Look, I'm touched, really. But, come on, I haven't seen you look like this since before Ur . . ." Lyon shook his head as quick as the fog he was in allowed. "Now, Natsu came in?"

Was he really that transparent? Gray stared at his brother. Lyon really knew him, just as - Gray felt - he really knew Lyon. He hadn't been lying when he had said that Lyon was the most important person to him. "He kissed me."

"Ha, I knew there was something with him! And?"

"And? That's it. I still don't know what really happened. One second I feel like I'm breaking apart then the next he's hugging me then he just kissed me."

"So, what do you think?"

"I dunno."

"Uh-uh, come on, are you interested?" Lyon's crooked smile grew wider, showing sparkling white teeth. "You are, aren't you?"

Now his cheeks were burning bright.

"Well, what the heck are you standing around some crippled's bed for? Go call him."

"What!? I couldn't possibly."

"You know, Gray. Your shyness is really endearing most of the time, but sometimes you are like a little annoying boy. Come on, just go for it."

He shook his head. "I've got other things on my mind right now."

Lyon stared at him and he couldn't quite pull away from the hard eyes. "Don't you use me as an excuse. Go." Lyon wasn't about to let it go. This was the first time he'd seen his brother show any type of emotion above quiet irritation and sudden fury since Ur died. Something about Natsu was pulling him out of the cold shell he had put up. Just the fact that Gray agreed to teach him how to dance - to dance again - was proof enough. And he wasn't going to let being bed-ridden for gods-knew how long stop him from pushing his brother to break that shell further.

Gray stood abruptly. "I'm going to the bathroom."

"And you are going to call Natsu."

"Shut up."

Lyon laughed.

"Maybe I'll go tell the nurse that you need a check up."

"Don't threaten."

"Oh, by the way," Gray curled his hand around the doorframe of Lyon's room, leaning back into it. "Juvia stopped by twice last night, said she was going to come by again in the afternoon." And he got the satisfaction of seeing surprise and befuddlement befall his brother before leaving for the bathroom.

* * *

While Gray was having a one-on-on with his brother, Natsu too was having a conversation with his brother that had left his face hot and embarrassed. He blew out a breath, jerking up the heavy metal bar over his chest. Behind the bench by Natsu's head, Zeref held out his palms slightly guiding the bar, there to make sure it didn't fall.

"So what was that all about last night?"

"What are - you-uhhh - talking about?" The iron pumped over the pink-haired rook's chest, pushing up into the air with a slow smooth motion and bulging muscle. Sweat beaded down his neck, dampening his cloud grey cotton shirt in a dark v-line. The Fairy Tail Station mark burned brightly, a siren red, over his chest.

"You came out of Gray's room, then bolted to ours. By the time I got there you were asleep."

"Ah," Natsu grunted, slamming the weights above him again. Truth be told, it had taken him another couple hours to fall asleep. His heart had been pounding a chariot race in his chest for far to long to allow for sleep. He felt inordinately aware of his lips. They felt so hot. Just as Natsu's steaming blush burned. Gods, he hoped that Zeref just passed it off as exertion from lifting.

"Yeah, ah," Zeref helped guide the truck's worth of weight back onto the stand where it met the metal with a clanking thud, and a groaning protest. His younger brother brought his knees to his chest, rolling up to sit at the edge of the black leather bench, his arms hung on his knees. "What happened with Gray?"

"Uh, nothin'. I went in to say sorry 'bout Lyon."

"That's it?"

"Yeah . . . yeah, that's it."

"Did you just pause?"

Natsu rolled his shoulder, cupping his hard deltoid in one hand as it rotated. Then the other. Swinging up one hand, he grabbed a firm grip on the pull-up bar. "No, I didn't pause. Honestly, Zeref, sometimes with you and reading people's body language, gotta work on it bro." _Gods, please just let it drop_ , he thought as his other hand took a firm grip on the worn black rubber. Locking his legs at the ankle, he dropped down until his arms were almost straight, and then slowly pulled his way back up. Down, up. All in such anguishly slow movements that caused his muscles to pop and strain, targeting deep to his strength.

Frowning, Zeref dropped to the matt, putting his hands under his chest as he pushed himself like a lever into the air. He surely wasn't as smooth or in control of his movements as Natsu, jerking up and down with each push-up, but his strength could not be denied as he neared the eightieth. And he still couldn't shake the feeling . . . was it what normal people called a _gut_ feeling? His brother, even still, was acting peculiar.

"Did Gray do something to you?" Zeref asked as he brought one arm straight as a sword into the air above his other, forming a single line. Similarly one foot raised until he was in a side-ways star-like position. Zeref had caught wind of the whispers that had been going around the station. The quick jabs, the remarks about his sexuality, and then the hell-hath-no-fury of Erza smacking around the remarkees.

Natsu blinked, blushing even harder. Gods, his face was so hot. The wall in front of him was surely going to melt. Or catch fire. At least they were in a fire station, Natsu mused silently, propping his foot on a side-step. "No. Gray didn't do anything to me."

"Then what is it?"

"Please, Zer, just let it go." Gods, but he knew his brother wouldn't drop it. Not his brother. Not the guy who if he caught the slightest scent of a riddle or puzzle, doggedly chased after it until he was intellectually satisfied.

"Something happened," Zeref sat up, hooking his elbows around his tented knees.

Sighing, Natsu stepped down off the stand, grabbing his towel from the side of the free-weight racks. He cocked a brow at the white towel. There were dark grey lines in hatchwork pattern across it. As he wondered what caused it, he mused that it made the white cotton look rather like scales. Somehow that was comforting as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "I kissed Gray." Natsu admitted suddenly. He wrung his hands through the soft towel. Might as well just get to it. That annoying big bro of his wasn't going to let it go anyway.

"You." Zeref's black eyes were wide. "You kissed him?" He shook his head suddenly, frowning intensely. "Why?"

"Why?" Natsu couldn't help but laugh. Gods, just as annoying his brother was, he sure as hell loved that man. "Because I wanted to! Because I've been feeling . . . and when I saw Gray so hurting, I just wanted to comfort him and it just sort of happened!"

"Huh," Zeref blinked slowly. "So then, you like him. Like, you are physically attracted to him?"

"Yes, Zer, I'm _physically attracted_ to him. My hormones are driving me, his smell is causing a release of even more hormones. I have a fondness for his physical look. Gods, Zer, does everything have to be so dryly scientific with you?"

"You kissed him."

"Yes. You can keep saying it, but it won't make it any less true."

"He is a man."

"Yeah?"

"So it's not a physical need to reproduce."

Draping the towel over his face, Natsu just shook his head.

"And Gray was in an emotional state?"

Suddenly, Natsu yanked at the towel. He whipped it down with a hard frown on his face. "What are you saying?"

"I'm just saying he was in an emotional state."

"No you're not." Natsu spun around, locking onto his brother. "You're saying . . ."

"That Gray was in an emotional state."

"Shit," Natsu raked his hand back through his sweaty pink hair. "You're saying that he may not have wanted - that I took advantage."

"I didn't say that."

"Gods, but I did!" Oh gods, he felt sick. He shouldn't have. How could he? When Gray was in such pain, he took the moment. "What did I do?"

"Natsu, calm down."

Natsu slid down, his back against the hard concrete wall. "What did I-" His phone chimed and as he absently pulled it out, he cursed.

"Who is it?"

"It's from Gray."

* * *

A/N: This and the next chapter were originally planned as one, but it made so much more sense to split it into two, don't you agree? See ya next time ;)

-Oblivion

 **Next Chapter: Close Embrace (Part 2)**


	9. Close Embrace (Part 2)

**Chapter 9: Close Embrace (Part 2)**

Natsu flicked out his phone, staring one more time at the text. Rolling his tongue in his cheek, he scanned the plain water damaged wood wall in front of him. It was an old forgotten building wedged in between two new century retail stores. In between the reverberating glow of the white fluorescence pumping out of these two stores, the old wood hall was dark in the chilly stormy night.

Tightening his collar, Natsu took in a shaky breath. The thick branded wooden sign hanging from ancient rusted iron bars out of the old wall squeaked and squawked, eliciting nerve shearing high pitch whines as it bayed back and forth with the breeze that bore the beginnings of winter. It was still a ways off, but Natsu could feel it in the air, the heaviness was receding to a thin chill.

Yet, his palms were slick. Scrubbing them against his jeans, Natsu shook his head vigorously. When did he become so frightened? He was a Dragneel. He took in a breath, puffing up his large muscular chest. Natsu would do the right thing. He would just walk in and apologize. Squeezing his fist at his side he set through the door. The walls seemed to stretch over him, leaning and wrapping as if it were alive with the shadowy darkness. As he passed, above, the rustic wooden sign waved. Just catching the light of the nearest street lamp, a majestic horse in the center of the crest-like sign reared onto its hide legs. Its front hooves kicked just as its wide arcing mane flicked down its powerful neck, splaying out, black, against the worn ochre of the sign. Over its display of majesty, the sign read: The Prancing – Natsu squinted. There was another word to the title, but he couldn't quite make it out.** Shaking his head, he chided himself for stalling and stepped through the threshold.

Whatever he had expected, it was not what Natsu found when he stepped through the all but decrepit and ancient door. Pristine, wide an open. The floor sparked with a buffered sheen, wax upon the beautifully rich cherry wood planks. One wall was replaced by a parallel world, a large spanning mirror extending the room with a ghost of illusion from a small dance studio into a magnificent ballroom hall. Rustic metallic shining bars split the mirror at waist height. The entire room belonged with the Victorians, regal and yet subtle in its beauty. Not here in downtown Magnolia in the dead center of the thrumming shopping district.

It all was illuminated with the moving romantic lights dimmed. And just as utterly strange to find as such a place, a deep rolling laugh echoed out from the stage, the floor raised in the back of the studio to a platform a few feet high. Natsu's heart tripped as he saw Gray, his naked shoulders bouncing as he laughed. Gods, it was such an infectious sound. So pure, so completely amazing. It brought an immediate smile to Natsu's lips, driving away his fear with not so much a trepidation in its wake.

Gray rocked back a little, slapping the back of the man sitting next to him. He shook his head with his toothy smile. The other man elbowed him in his side to bring his attention up. And it brought an immediate thunderclap across Natsu's world, a lightning strike directly in his heart when that smile turned to him. "Natsu. Good, you found the place! Come here." He waved his hand, beckoning the pink-haired rook who had been completely thrown off his track over to his side.

Natsu took in Gray's companion with a long assessing look. He was a strange sight. His auburn hair spiked back, framing dancing eyes and a wide cocky grin. Two particular spikes of hair almost resembled ears, lending him to look as a regal lion. As Natsu got closer he noticed the subtle lines of pure gold running through the man's hair, just as the subtle yet drawing color of his bright hazel eyes behind thin silver rimmed blue oval glasses. He hopped off the platform, cocking his head to the side as Natsu felt those star-like hazel eyes assess him, scanning him up and down. He hooked his hands at his hips, pushing them forward a little, accentuating his long tall and lean body.

"This would be him then?" The striking man cocked a brow back at Gray, before nodding his head slowly. "Yeah, he'll do." Flashing his grin to Gray then to Natsu in turn, he nodded sharply before walking past Natsu. As he brushed past, he paused for a second, whispering two soft words into Natsu's ear. His smile was celestial as he inclined his head a little. At the door he stopped, looking back over his shoulder. "Just turn off the lights and lock up once you are done. Gray, it's good to see you again."

"Have a good night, Leo." Hopping off the platform, Gray walked over to its edge where he pulled open a panel from a long black metal tower. "Sorry for dragging you all the way downtown, but I didn't exactly have the space to teach you steps in my room."

Natsu just shook his head, rubbing at the confusion on his face between his pressing fingers. "Not a problem. Who was that?" And was Gray still smiling? Gods, Natsu couldn't recall a single moment when he had seen Gray smile. It was almost as moving to his chest as the booming laugh.

"Ah, Leo. He's an old friend. Sorry, I didn't introduce you. Leo Stellae. Haven't seen him," Gray's smile faltered a little, "in a long time." Holding an audio jack in his hand, coiled out from the black tower, Gray fished out his phone from his pants. "This is his place. Said we could use it." A snapping pop resounded out of the corners, large woofing speakers reverberating high at each edge when Gray slid the jack into his phone.

"Uhh, how's Lyon?" Natsu blinked, his jaw hung wide as Gray laughed in reply.

The raven shook his head, fiddling with his phone. "Damn bastard probably wishes he could've hurt himself worse." Gray turned to meet a hard frown with fiery green eyes, lit so beautifully by the dim dancehall ambiance. "Juvia stopped by. Was fussing over him all day. Lyon was on cloud nine."

"Oh," Natsu whipped his head, his spiky pink hair whiplashing. He clenched his fists to his sides. "Look, Gray . . . about last night."

Gray leaned back against the platform's edge. He said nothing. A few feet away, the strong bull-headed rash rook was visibly shaking.

"Gray, I'm so sorry. I took advantage of you."

"Eh?" Gray couldn't help the half-smile that came to his lips.

"I – You were hurting. With your brother in the hospital, and everything . . . And in that state, I forced myself on you."

Chuckling, Gray swept back his raven hair off his brow. Tapping his phone, soft rolling music with a steady calm swaying beat drifted out from the studio's corners. Standing in front of Natsu, he took his hands softly in his. And, closing his eyes, pulled Natsu gently into him as his mouth took Natsu's fiery lips. The heated energy poured through his body with the cinnamony spice of Natsu's tongue. He took the Salamander long and deep, drawing them together, sharing a part of himself he had locked away. Gray held him until the man in his hands swayed, dropping back.

Natsu gasped. His legs had just collapsed; his skeleton forgot its purpose. He stepped back, barely catching himself before he crumbled to the floor. His heartbeat skyrocketed. He could practically hear it pounding underneath the soft thrum of the moving music filling the hall. "Wh – what was that?"

"You were in an emotional state." Gray bumped his brows, smiling coolly. His eyes shone brilliant blue. "Now we are even."

"Whhhhaa – huh?"

"Now, when I do this," Gray took a smooth gliding step. The small distance between them melted away. He took Natsu's hand in his again. And he looked deep into the burning green emerald eyes. Those eyes belonged to a beast, a dangerous, mythically powerful beast. But there was so much more beyond the raw power in those sage gems. "Natsu, I was hurting. You are completely right. I haven't felt that level of pain in a long time. It hurts just thinking about it, but I was in a dark place, Natsu. You rescued me from that." Gray smiled, bringing his hand up slowly to grace a light touch under Natsu's sharp cutting jaw. "Now, so that neither of us are taking advantage, I'm going to ask.

"Natsu, may I kiss you?"

His mouth was open as he blinked dumbly. Slowly. He felt so drawn to those glacier blue pools looking at him, no, looking into him. He felt it, he felt himself being drawn into those pools, falling away from the corporal. He tried, but his voice never managed to come to his tongue. He was lost. Natsu just nodded.

And he sucked in a sudden breath as Gray's lips crashed into his. The wintry scent of the unbelievable man shocked him yet again, tingling his tongue. His legs turned to rubber underneath him, but Gray's strong hand at his side kept him standing, just as the touch sent shivering spikes through his system.

Gray opened his eyes, pulling back just to get the breath back into his lungs. The breath that Natsu had stolen. Damn if Lyon didn't know him, as always. Natsu just felt - right.

"So, let's teach you to dance."

"Huh?" Natsu's flying green eyes fluttered open.

"You already know, clearly, but that's an entirely different form."

"Huh?" The pink-haired boy repeated, letting out a soft hush of breath.

Gray smiled, "I promised I'd teach you."

"Are you really talking about dancing?"

His smile warmed, his eyes drawing a deeper starry amusement. "In a sense."

"I can't feel my legs."

Guiding a hand around Natsu's side, Gray laughed. "Then let's get you over here to sit for a second."

They sat in silence for a while, just letting the drifting tides of music roll over them. They sat on the edge of the platform, Gray content for the first in a long time, Natsu, his head spinning.

"Okay," Gray said after a while. He prodded Natsu's side with a jab from his pointer finger. "Stand up. I'll teach you the basics. And I do mean of actual dancing this time."

"Wh – hey!" Natsu jumped to his feet from the stab. Gray jumped up beside him.

Taking his hand, Gray pulled Natsu by his side to the center of the dance studio, his shining black shoes' heels giving a cadence to each step across the hard cherry wood.

"You're smiling a lot."

"Yeah?" Gray smirked, dropping Natsu's hand. "Now, I'm going to show you how to lead. At its basic level, it's more simple than following. You don't have to worry about a partner right now, so you can just focus on your own movements. Here," Gray guided with his hands drawing up Natsu's arms. "Like this. Now it's pretty simple. Just move slowly. Concentrate on the music. Step with the beat and imagine yourself moving with a partner."

"Wait, what? How do I?" Natsu's sudden panic all but deflated with the look which he could only describe as a twinkle in Gray's sapphire eyes. He'd definitely never seen that in Gray before. He had always been so serious. But now, he looked as if he were teasing Natsu. Amused.

"Just let your feet move slowly. That's it, just slow, fluid motions. Slow dancing isn't all that complicated." Gray watched Natsu uncomfortably and stiffly shift his weight, moving on rusted grinding gear and hinges. Gray laughed softly, stepping in line with Natsu. He grabbed Natsu's hand, bringing it up around shoulder height between them. "Okay, just relax. Maybe it'll be easier you move with me. Now usually, you'd lead . . . or follow . . . but right now I just want you to move wherever you want. Small steps, left or right. And I'll move with you."

Inches away, Natsu dry swallowed, feeling his hand shake against Gray's palm. He was so close. Gods.

"Natsu, look at me."

"Can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?" Taking his right hand from Natsu's shoulder, he tipped up Natsu's chin. "Look into your partner's eyes. This is a partner dance. It's not about the movements, it's about what you feel sharing the moment with the person you are dancing with. And here," he grabbed Natsu's right hand bringing it to the small of his back.

Immediately, Natsu's face shot through scarlet. Gray's smooth hard bare skin felt so hot under his hand.

"Good, you're doing great. Just shift your weight and rock. Mmhmm," Gray rolled softly, the music guiding them around each other. They moved slowly, alone with only the tide of the music to set through souls entwined.

Gray drifted through the night, smiling more than he had in his entire life. His eyes shone. "Now, if you are dancing with someone you are intimate with," Gray almost whispered as he took both of Natsu's hands and brought them back to his hips. He snaked his arms around Natsu's muscularly sculpted Adonis physique. He pulled Natsu into him until their hips just touched, ceasing to be two dancing in the night. Becoming one, as their movements fell away from dancing, they looked deep into each other's eyes. Breathing soft.

Fire burned low with passion and need in Natsu's eyes. "Can I kiss you?"

"Idiot, you don't have to ask every time."

* * *

**A/N: Leo's dance studio is drawn off a very particular building in literature. Though, the inside couldn't be more different. I thought it would be fun if we had a little contest. PM me the name of this building or leave it in a review and you'll get a chance to appear in Teach Me to Dance Oh and no Googling, where's the fun it that? Shouldn't be too hard.

-Oblivion

 **Next Chapter: A Clue in the Riddles**


	10. A Clue in the Riddles

Disclaimer: The following is a literary work made for entertainment purposes. Neither the author nor the forums in which the following work appear make any profit off of the distribution of this work. Fairy Tail and its characters are the property of its creator Hiro Mashima. Support the original work.

A/N: This is a shorter chapter. I muddled over adding this on with a break from the previous chapter, but I decided that it would be best to post it as a short connection to the next. Also, I would like to take this moment with the posting of the tenth chapter of Teach Me to Dance to ask you a question. I would like to hear from you as to who you think the arsonist is. I am currently writing a murder mystery with plans to publish it as my first novel and am curious to see whether I am successfully writing to the 'mystery' quality of the genre.

This story is a mystery in the same sense. I've found it an interesting challenge to try to guide the reader down multiple paths without committing the crime of leading and at the same time giving clues as to the actual suspect so that you may figure it out on your own. So, with that being said, let me see if I have been successful in Teach Me to Dance so far. At this point, you have all the clues you need to determine the identity of the arsonist. There will be more to come later as well. After reading this chapter please pm me, email me at ajdomaniwriting=-at=-=gmail-=0=com, kik AjDomani, or leave in a review your guess as to who the arsonist is. Who done it?

* * *

 **Chapter 10: A Clue in the Riddles**

Zeref ran his tongue absently along his bottom lip as he read the latest of poems. It had been found hanging in Deliora's trademark plastic laminated sleeve from the electric plug of a defibrillator of all things.

.

 _Many shields the sin has made,_

 _To take flame in its stead._

 _Eventually still they will lay_

 _And the sin will be dead_

 _._

 _Two of six prayers heavenbound_

 _With the shuckles of mankind falling to the ground._

 _Where the flame may crown,_

 _To the bottom pit my sin be drowned_

 _._

 _Will the next be heed?_

 _Will it all be over, we all may plead,_

 _But until the sin be purged,_

 _Fire will dance and surge_

 _._

 _The third is confused where it began_

 _._

 _Oedipus he cries, upon red skies,_

 _He was never to be the king even after I die,_

 _For his existence is but a lie_

 _._

 _The fighters fight along Oedipus' side_

 _Why don't they see what lies inside?_

 _._

 _For he is I._

 _._

Raking his hand back through his midnight black hair, Zeref sighed. "This is getting exceedingly out of character for Deliora."

Gildarts swigged back a healthy two fingers of Scotch, slamming the thick glass down to his desk with a hollow thud. He grunted. "I agree. He seems almost titillated, even more brazen than he usually is. He's talking about the third, with a note at the second. He's never given us any sort of clue about the next fire before. Does he want us to be on to him?"

Zeref shook his head, reading over each line of the poem again. "I've been considering that Deliora may have some scheme in mind, some target, I believe he's telling us who that is."

"His arsons are always random."

"Are they?" No, Zeref mused, there was a link. "Chief, what if this, all of this, is just to take away from a single target?"

"Bloody roundabout way of hitting it. Are you thinking insurance? Because Makarov and I ran through the insurance payouts from all the fires, not a one was linked. And then there's the forest fire."

"I was more thinking a person."

"He's trying to kill someone?"

"I believe so, yes." Zeref pointed at the poem, guiding Chief Gildarts with him. "There are two motifs that are in every one of Deliora's poems. The sin. And the prayer. Now the prayer is obvious. He uses it to refer to the fire he set every time. But the sin. This poem confirms it for me, Chief. Before this, he always referred to it abstractly, 'my sin,' 'my greatest sin,' but this time he practically told us what the sin is and how it is related to himself."

Gildarts barked out a sharp laugh cutting Zeref off. "What and he hasn't been able to kill him in eighteen years?"

"I don't think so. He's gotten close, but he's never killed the person."

"Do you have an idea who the target is?"

"I do."

"Well, what the hell? Who?"

Zeref frowned, shaking his head again. "Not yet, Chief. I need to be more sure of it first, but it worries me."

At that, Gildarts scowled. Zeref worried? That could only mean one person was the target. "Are the Dragneel's the target? Is Natsu in danger?" Scrubbing his three-day scruffy beard, Gildarts thought back to Igneel. The finest man he had ever known. The best gods-damned fighter ever.

"We are not, no. Sorry, I have said too much already. I need to confirm it first."

"Do you have an idea of who it is behind the fires?"

"Not yet, but the conclusions I'm coming to worry me."

"How is that, now?"

Gods, what it must be like to live in such a slow and blind world as normal people. "He's related to this station."

Gildarts slammed his palms against his desk. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"These fires always return to Magnolia. Why here? Why fire? We are the only fire station in this city. The fires have been set, especially the most recent, with traps and manipulations of the fire that only someone with very intimate knowledge of how they spread could possibly do. Those traps are specifically targeting the way we go about fighting them, standard procedures. He is related to the station somehow."

"I don't like where you are going with this."

"Neither do I. But it gets worse."

"Worse? How could it be fucking worse?"

"He's upping his game. The hospital was absolutely riddled with booby-traps. It hospitalized nearly a dozen fighters. And he's giving us more in this poem. It's a message. He's telling us that it's gone on long enough. He's going to end it this time."

"Fuckin' a."

"Indeed. If we don't end it soon, someone we love is going to be dead. Or." Zeref hated himself that he allowed the 'or' to slip out. Damn if he wasn't too excited about the riddle, and the need to show off its solutions.

"Or?"

"Or," Zeref tapped his finger on the edge of the chief's desk. "Or, we are all in grave danger and Deliora is not just related to this station, he's in it. It's less likely, but I cannot be certain."

* * *

Gray sat on his bed, humming to himself. On top of his chest Happy sat purring along with him as he ran his fingers back through the cat's midnight fur. "Well, what do you think, should I?"

Happy purred, nuzzling Gray's bare chest against his cheek.

"Alright then," Gray picked up his phone, dialing Natsu's number. He didn't need another lecture from Lyon. It had been bad enough when Lyon had found out he had invited Natsu to Leo's with a text. He shuddered just recalling the memory.

" _A text?"_

 _"Yeah, what's the problem?"_

 _"You've got to be kidding me! You are such a scaredy-cat! Couldn't even muck up the courage to call him. Sheesh._

Thank goodness Juvia had walked in when she did. Another second and Lyon was going to be giving him dating instructions – he did not need that from his brother. A push, Gray conceded. He had definitely needed a push. But he was man enough to do this his way.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Natsu, it's Gray."

"Hey," this time the voice in his ear perked up, immediately jumping with excitement.

And damn if Gray wasn't smiling because of it. "Hey, I was wondering if you are doing anything tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, well," Gray ran his fingers back down Happy's spine before absently rolling his soft leathery ear between his thumb and forefinger much to the chagrin of the cat. "Pride's tomorrow . . . I don't usually go, but I was wondering, if maybe, if you weren't busy . . ."

"Hell yeah I want to go!"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, 'course I do."

"Okay then, sweet, uhh, I'll see ya tomorrow then. Goodnight Natsu."

"Man, that's so cool. I love hearing you wish me goodnight. Goodnight, Gray, thanks for asking!"

Gray let out a breath. Why was his hand shaking?

Happy yeowled, reaching up and giving Gray's hand a good swat with his claws extended. Shaking his head, he pawed at his ear, indignant that someone had been rubbing it. Though as Gray's fingers returned to his fur, he settled back against Gray's chest. He allowed his human the privilege of petting him.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Pride**


	11. Pride

A/N: Here in the United States, June is LGBT pride month. It's a time of standing up and celebrating who you are, and sharing everything with the love you hold in your heart to your neighbors all around. For me, Pride, is an amazing time. Just remembering my first time going to the Pride celebration in San Francisco fills me with such peace. It was the first time in my life that I looked around, with millions of people packing the sidewalks and marching to celebrate their love, that I felt fully accepted. It was the first time I was really free and was around millions just like myself. It's true of anything in life, you have all experienced it in some form. Whether it's being around a group where you can freely express all your geekiness, hollering at the top of your lungs as a fangirl or fanboy, or like me, being surrounded by so many people from little children to the generations who paved the way for me to stand there without fear – it's life changing.

If you are LGBT, now is the time to stand up and freely express that love. We are all here, and we are all there for you. If you are not, stand up anyway and show just how much you love your fellow human beings and care about their happiness, safety, and hearts. It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, what you look like, who you love, we are all human, and we need to share that love.

Unfortunately, this year, celebrations have had a damper by one of the worst mass shootings in US history. An LGBT club was targeted and as a result of one disgusting demon's hatred, nearly fifty people lost their lives, and hundreds if not thousands have been left scarred. We cannot stop every evil person in the world. But we can say without any uncertainty, that this is my life, and I will stand high and proud of who I am and nothing you can do will ever stop me from being who I was born to be. Now more than ever, we must take the victims on our shoulders and live our lives to the fullest.

Be proud. Share love.

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Pride**

Running his clammy palm down his thigh, Natsu took a moment before knocking on Gray's door. This was it, Natsu thought as his mind raced, this was the beginning. Their first date. His knuckles sounded against the hard wood door.

"Hey, Natsu!" Gray smiled wide, grabbing the pink haired rook in a rough hug, before tugging him back into his room. "Good morning. Just give me one sec." He crouched down, rifling through a drawer near his desk's base.

"No prob. Uhh, what did you do to your hair?"

"Oh," Gray blushed a little, swiping his fingers back through his spiked raven hair. The side of which was now dyed in streaking rainbow, the red burning along toward his striking blue eyes while the colors spanned down to a quiet purple drifting behind his ear. "It's Pride . . . I kinda felt like . . ." Gray shrugged before standing back up and turning to face Natsu.

Natsu raised an eyebrow at the clear case in Gray's palm. Inside was what looked like a stamp-pad stretching a rainbow of colors. "I've never been to Pride before, is there something I should . . ."

"No, you don't have to do anything," Gray responded, dipping the corner of a towel into an opened wide-mouthed water bottle. He wiped the wet towel along the pad, brandishing rainbows across his cheeks, under his shining cobalt blue eyes.

It looked, Natsu thought, like the kind of paint baseball players wore, but bright and vibrant in color.

"I just felt like celebrating today." He held out the rainbow paint pad to Natsu. "Do you want to-"

"Sure."

Smiling, Gray ran the towel's corner back through the pad. He gently brought it up to Natsu's cheeks, gazing long and deep in his eyes as he caressed down his blushing tan skin.

Natsu gulped, staring back into those deep blue oceans. As the towel's cottony edge ran down his face, he was drowning in those beautiful pools. Was this really Gray? Something seemed so different. The shine in his eyes, the smile that still hadn't fallen from his lips. Gods. He dry swallowed again.

"Natsu."

"Hmm?"

The breath rushed out of the rook's lungs as their lips crashed together. Gray ran his fingers back in such a soothing embrace through Natsu's fiery pink hair. He moaned to the touch, just as he tasted Gray's wintry mouth. He closed his eyes. He was swallowed by the sea.

Gray's wide grin had dropped into a warm touch. He traced his thumb against Natsu's smooth cheek. "Thank you for going with me today."

"Is something wrong, Gray?"

"No," he shook his head slightly, his thumb rhythmically running a circling touch against Natsu's hot skin.

"You sure?" Natsu frowned, concern falling in his sage eyes. Was this really the Gray he knew?

"Yeah," Gray's hand fell to Natsu's side. He weaved his fingers between his. "Come on. Let's get going."

Natsu scanned the downtown streets with wide eyes. They were packed. Absolutely packed. And from every corner streetlight rainbow banners hung and waved in the soft late morning breeze. Kids propped themselves up on parents' shoulders waving small rainbow flags on plastic white sticks. Some ran around, rainbow flags tied around their necks, trailing behind them like capes. "There's a parade, right?"

"Yeah, in about half an hour. Would you mind coming with me somewhere first?"

"Sure, of course." He held Gray's hand, weaving through the crowds of people gathered to celebrate love. And the building Gray steered him toward left him even more confused. The oldest church in Magnolia, the Fairy Cross, tapered high into the sky with a piercing spire. Gray tugged him into the building, and Natsu fell immediately into the somber ambiance of heavy, smoke-filled air. It weighed down all around him, leaving him shuddering under the large open room's presence. Ancient and absolutely amazing. But Natsu looked from down-turned face to saddened quiet eyes. "I didn't know you were religious." He whispered as Gray guided him to a wall of flickering candles.

"I'm not. Not even a little." Gray picked up a small white wax unlit candle.

Natsu watched as ghosts swam into his blue eyes. He gazed at the candle with such a somber light. Striking a match, Gray held it to the wick. And as the flame took hold Gray took in a breath and watched the flame wave against the mahogany wood of the chamber hall. He placed it in a shallow carved alcove, closing his eyes. He inclined his head.

Standing, he took Natsu's hand in his. Natsu stared at the man next to him as his smile returned just as they stepped out of the church. He took in a long breath of the morning air, filling his chest, before nodding. " 'Kay, let's go watch the parade."

"Gray?"

"Huh?"

"What was that?" Natsu fought against the crowd again, holding Gray's hand tight in his to keep by his side.

"For Orlando."

"Orlando?"

"Mmm." Gray stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, and pulled Natsu's hand to his chest, tugging him into a strong hug. He tucked his chin over Natsu's shoulder. "Sorry. I really just wanted to make our first date amazing, but it all just really got to me. The shootings. Lyon. Gods. Ur. My mom. I've lost so many people, Natsu. And so many families lost their loved ones in that shooting. I just –"

"Shit, Gray." Natsu shook his head, blinking away the tears welling in his eyes. He hugged the man tighter in his arms.

"Sorry."

"Don't be."

"Aww, you guys are so cute!"

Natsu blinked, his face immediately burning. He pulled back from Gray to find a short but busty girl grinning at them, her long raspberry colored hair falling over her dark skin. She bumped her eyebrows, her eyes trailing from Gray to Natsu. The look she gave him. Gods.

"You guys are freakin' hot!" That caused even Gray to blink, his lips twitching. The man standing next to the raspberry-haired girl was an intimidating man with drilling red eyes below spiky silver hair. The dark leather jacket with his tight black jeans matched his intimidating Russian accent. He smiled wide. "Seriously, damn, you guys together?"

"Uhh."

"Yeah!" Natsu smiled, winking at Gray. Yeah, they were.

"Damn," the silver-haired boy swore. He hooked his thumbs in his jacket pockets. "Go figure. All the hot ones got one already. Though, you guys look amazing together."

The girl shook her bright jewel hair, "like they'd have you, Dima, when they've got each other behind closed doors."

"Hey, shuddap, Kenni."

"Come on, they are way out of your league. Here, I mean" she trailed her hand down in the air running the length of Gray's torso. "Do you really think this pink-haired guy would want your ass when he's got this?"

Natsu tugged Gray closer to his side. Though his cheeks burned, and he really wished Gray had left his shirt on, he couldn't help but feel a small spark of pride in hearing Gray claimed as his.

"Hey, who are you guys-" Gray gulped as another person joined them. The girl was almost a cross between the two already in front of them. Her leather jacket and skinny-jeans spoke to the almost mercenary dangerousness of the pale-skinned silver haired man while her black heeled boots propped her small stature up just a touch higher than her raspberry-haired companion. But it wasn't that that made Gray's cheeks burn a cherry red. Her mouth dropped open, her liquid brown eyes as wide as saucers as they trailed over every inch of Gray's exposed torso.

"Uhm, hi?" Gray blinked, biting his lip.

"Ha-mmm," she tucked behind her two companions, though her brown eyes remained locked onto his body.

The raspberry-haired girl shook her head, her eyes rolling. "Sorry, I'm Kenni, this guy here is Dima, and the girl hiding behind us is Ryuu."

"Uhh, nice to meet you?" Gray glanced at Natsu beside him. What the heck? But, the blare of raspy trumpets and the thumping of pounding bass off a leading float, marked the beginning of Pride.

With the overwhelming feeling of love and acceptance pouring out into the crowd, Gray pulled Natsu into his side, enjoying the feeling of the man supporting him. Companies marched down the street, with hundreds of employees waving, sharing how much they cared. The Magnolia mayor sat on the back of a black convertible BMW, waving. Behind him, two all black cliché SUVs followed. Gray felt Dima stiffen a little as they passed, but just as he was about to comment on it, the small girl with short chestnut hair let out gasp, before she covered her mouth.

A bold red fire engine's sirens trilled, blaring boldly down the parade route. Out of the windows, Gray and Natsu spotted Erza and Jellal waving to the crowds of onlookers. Behind the wheel, Chief Gildarts grinned, jamming the sirens to turn again. On the extended ladder atop the engine, Laxus grinned wide, waving. His arm was around Freed's waist, and they waved, sitting on the last ladder rung.

"Oh my gods. So muscular. That blond is so hot."

"I'll let him know you think so." Gray smiled, winking at Ryuu.

"Wha-" her cheeks immediately shot through a crimson blush. Her eyelids fluttered.

"You're a part of the Fairy Tail Station?" Dima nodded approvingly when Natsu responded. "That's awesome. You guys are heroes."

"Thanks," Gray smiled watching the engine pass. On the back, their tiny chief waved to either side. His long bouncing hat trailed down over his ridiculously small stature. "By the way," Gray said to Ryuu, "his name is Laxus and that guy he has his arm around is his fiancé."

"Good lord, so many hot guys in one station." Kenni winked at Natsu. "Bet it's hard to get anything done. Though," her eyebrows bumped, "you've got the hottest one right next to you." She elbowed him in the side. "Bet you get quite a workout every night with that one to be in such good shape."

"Ye-ah"

He turned to Gray with his cheeks on fire, but found him staring at the parade with a whispering awe in his blue eyes. Natsu could swear he saw a mistiness gathering at their edges. Natsu turned back to the parade to see a crowd of people waving signs spelling out PFLAG. Each wore white t-shirts with messages that read, "proud of my son," "proud of my mom," "proud . . ." Natsu couldn't help when his throat constricted a little. He covered his mouth, "gods."

Gray squeezed his hand, turning to him with such a loving smile. His heart was overflowing. Taking Natsu's lips with his, he closed his eyes and let it all wash over him.

* * *

"Did we really have to come here?"

"You were the one who said you were hungry."

"But," Natsu pouted, scrubbing his hands underneath the faucet's stream in the restaurant's bathroom. "Why'd they have to come."

"What? They are all very nice people."

"Mmm. It's not all of them . . . It's Kenni. She keeps saying these things."

"Things, like?"

Natsu shook his head, staring at the cool water slipping past his fingers. His cheeks burned just thinking about it. "She keeps saying things like . . . about what you must be like in bed. And-"

"You look terrified!" Gray couldn't help the chuckle. Gods he was so cute. "You run into a burning building but some innuendoes get you shaking. Gods, you are too much!"

"But it's our first date."

Taking Natsu's jaw in his hand, Gray danced over Natsu's fiery lips with a light touch. "They are just teasing you because your face gets red every time."

"But what about Ryuu?"

Gray blinked, thinking about the slim girl with such short chestnut hair. "What about her?"

"She keeps staring at you. I don't like it."

Natsu? Gods, how friggin' adorable. Damn he just wanted to take Natsu there and then. "Are you jealous?" he asked with a slight bend to the corner of his lips.

"Hmph."

"You know I could never be interested in . . ."

"Yeah, I know that! But, still. I don't like the way she looks at you. I mean, you're mine." Even as the words escaped his lips, Natsu sage eyes grew wide. He tried to cover his mouth with his fingers in an attempt to stuff the words back down his throat.

Gray blushed, cocking his head. "It's our first date." Damn, his heart was going crazy. He could hear it pulse in his ears. Taiko drummers couldn't have matched its rapid cadence.

"Th-that's not what I meant! You-you're my teacher!"

"Uh-huh." Gray stepped closer to him, looking with all the love he had felt in the crowds into those deep sage eyes. "You're really cute, Natsu." He ran his hand back through the messy spiky pink hair. "So damn adorable that it should be illegal."

Natsu could feel the heat coming off his face. Cute? Adorable? Gods, those cool glacier blue eyes. "Y-yy-yy-"

"You're right," Gray said with a warm smile. He took Natsu's hand with his. "This is _our_ first date. Come on, I'll tell them that we are going to be heading out." Tugging Natsu out of the restaurant with him after he made excuses to their new friends, Gray guided them down the street. "It's our date, and I don't want to share you with anyone either." To that end, he pulled a still blushing Natsu with him, hiking up into the hillside overlooking the city.

That was the great thing about Magnolia, Gray thought as he ducked under a low-hanging branch and holding it out of Natsu's way, no matter where you were, nature wasn't far away. Quickly, the voices and sounds of the celebration on the streets dropped to a murmur. They continued climbing, hand-in-hand, until the sky was dipping past its zenith, on its journey back to the horizon's embrace. When they reached the top, the trees broke to a small clearing.

Gray brought Natsu with him and sat down next to a large purple triangle emboldened on the hillside overlooking the Pride celebration below. He squeezed Natsu's hand in his, looking out over the parade that was still crawling down the streets. Even hours in, the merriment seemed not even to be near its halfway point. He turned to take in those burning sage eyes. "Thank you, Natsu."

"Huh," Natsu blinked, turning to him. "For what?"

"Just," he closed his eyes, taking Natsu's lips softly. The trees whispered overhead, leaves rustling in a subtle breeze. It washed past the two, alone in their own world. He fell back into the grass, dragging Natsu down in a hug with him. "Thank you."

Under the soft breeze, and the sun's warm basking warmth, and beside such a comfortable man, Gray smiled blissfully. He spread his arms out in the grass, enjoying the soft wind's touch against his bare skin. He closed his eyes, a peaceful smile on his lips. And he thought, as much as this world was fucked up, there were things worth living for.

Natsu watched as the man his heart was inexplicably beating for, and drawing him within his dreams, slipped off into his own dream world. He'd never felt so content. It just felt so nice being next to him. He laughed lightly, brushing the dyed rainbow hair back from his sharp, striking pale face. Natsu leaned over Gray to plant a fleeting kiss on the sleeping prince.

But, he cocked his head as he pulled back. Picking up the rainbow paint pad in its clear case from the grass, Natsu chuckled. Must've put it in his pocket. He ran his tongue along the inside of his lip. Scanning over Gray, sleeping, his smooth strong chest raising and falling softly among the swaying green grass. Running his fingers along the paint pad, Natsu traced an outline over Gray's smooth skin. The heart ran from Gray's chest, laying over the bold Fairy Tail brand on his pec, and swooped down over his abs where the rainbow lines met with a point near his belly button. Inside of the heart, he wrote:

Natsu & Gray

Wiping his painted fingers on the grass, Natsu smiled. He planted his palms in the grass behind him, and, leaning back, looked out over the crowds celebrating love below.

* * *

A/N: Congrats to the winners (Kenni and Dima) of my quick contest to name Leo's dance hall. They got it right, it was The Prancing Pony (Lord of the Rings). Also, want to thank Ryuu for the support. I really appreciate it.

 **Next Chapter: The Beginning**


	12. The Beginning

**Chapter 12: The Beginning**

It happened in a flash, the crash of a lightning strike.

It happened before the thunderclap could reach his ears.

Gray's jaw knotted. Gods.

Yesterday. Pride. Waking up to find the corniest thing he had ever seen, that rainbow heart painted over his torso. Waking up to find Natsu's burning sage eyes coursing with a divine light in the soft evening embrace.

They all slipped away.

A passing dream.

"Gray, come on."

Blinking with tears in his icy blue eyes, Gray bit his lip. It took all he had to keep standing. His hand shook as he dug his fingers into Natsu's shoulder through the thick padded firefighter jacket.

"Gray, let go."

"No."

"Gray."

"You're not going in there." Gray's body shook, his eyes wide, still jarred with the shock of seeing the flames. The fire licking over that horrible building. The hazy sky over the shoddy crooked roof. Flame burst out a window, glinting its menace off the twisting shards as they fell. It was the same. Six years. Nothing changed.

"Damn it, Dragneel! Your squad's going in! What the hell are you doing?" Laxus' cobalt eyes split with dangerous electricity as he barked at the pink haired rook.

"Gray, I have to go." Natsu tried to shift, tried to gently shake himself free, but Gray threw his arms around Natsu, holding in a tight lock. "Gray."

"No." Damn the tears that fell. Damn the world. "You can't go in there! You can't!"

"Gray."

"Th-that's the place. Ur-"

"Gray." Natsu said more firmly, turning to hold Gray's gaze. "Don't you think I know? This is where my dad died. Damn it, Gray. I have to do this! This is my fire!"

Squeezing him tighter, Gray dug his chin into Natsu's padded shoulder. "If you go in there. You're going to – to."

"What," Natsu held up his palm, cupping Gray's cheek in a tender winterly embrace underneath the whipping blaze of scorching fire across the apartment building behind them, "you don't trust me?"

"Natsu."

"Hey, Gray. Come on, nothing's going to happen to me. It'll all be fine."

"No."

"Gray," Natsu took in a breath of the thick, hot, smoke-filled air. "That's enough. I'm a firefighter, Gray. This is what I do. This is what we do."

"Dragneel!"

"I'm coming!" He turned back to Gray. "Let me go, Gray. I have to go."

"Bu – yesterday."

"I'm going."

Gray dry swallowed. This was not happening. Not again. It was his fault before. Ur went into the fire because of him. Not Natsu. Gods-be-damned to hell, not after what that gods-damned pink-haired bastard made him feel. He'd not let it happen again. "No." With tears trailing down his face, Gray stepped back from Natsu. He separated them with a step. "It's yesterday, Natsu. It's me. Or this fire."

Natsu blinked. "Don't do this."

"I can't lose anyone. Not again, Natsu."

"Stop, Gray."

"Choose."

"I'm not going to do that. Are you telling me to run away, Gray? Is that what you want!? You want me to run from what I've been fighting for my whole life?"

"There are going to be other fires." He shot his hand out, pointing at the apartment building – his old home – going up in flames. "But not this one! Not this one."

"Gray."

"No."

"Enough, Gray!" Natsu's voice snapped. He grabbed Gray's arm. "This is me. This is my fight!" His voice softened as he smiled. "I'll see you in a little bit."

Gray watched, rooted in place, as Natsu joined his squad. And as he followed in right behind the giant Lieutenant Dreyar, he watched as Ur stepped through the doorway. Fire blasted out the window pane next to the door, but she turned back and gave him a flashing smile. And then she was gone. She disappeared through the doorway.

Gray swallowed. "Damn it all!" With his fist balling white knuckled at his side, Gray's teeth set in a snarl. He ran to the engine, flipping open an equipment box.

Just as he squashed a helmet over his head, the metal compartment's lid slammed shut with an impact from Gildart's palm. Gray looked up at him, his eyes burning. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I'm going in."

"Like hell you are."

"I'm going in whether you want me to or not, Chief."

Gildarts' rolled his tongue through his teeth, his face grim, his head bobbing slowly. "You're keeping your skinny pale ass right here."

Gray just about snarled at him, gripping the metal clasp of the container. But though he tugged, he couldn't overcome the strength of just one of Gildart's arms. "You can either get back to your ambulance and be on the ready to help our family, which we are going to need. Or, you can spend the night locked in the back of the engine. It's your choice."

"I'm-"

"Gray," Gildarts sighed, closing his eyes. "If you can look at me, right now, and tell me that you are ready to go into that building. Then, you can go." When Gray looked up at him, his mouth open, but dry for words, Gildarts nodded gruffly. "That's what I thought. I don't need you in there, Gray. Not as you are. Get back to your ambulance. We are short-handed and we _are_ going to need you."

He slammed a palm down so hard on Gray's shoulder that in nearly buckled his knees. He barely remained standing. "I know what you are feeling, Gray. I lost my best friend in that building, Gray. But, I can't have someone in there who is not in the condition to fight."

"You have no idea." Gray stalked back to the bumper of his ambulance. Falling onto the rough metal grating, his jaw locked as he stared at the building of his nightmares.

"Think you are going to screw us over again, Stripper?"

Gray all but reeled back at the black spiky haired firefighter behind him, his blue eyes aflame with burning rage.

Smiling thinly, his sharp white fang-like teeth cut like a bandsaw, Gajeel flexed his hand into a thickly padded glove. "Keep your ass outta the fire, no place for kids like you. Guess, it makes sense now. Heard you take it up the ass like a bitch. Don't send in a fairy to do a man's job. Little fa-"

The bone-on-bone crunch jarred down Gray's wrist, vibrating down his arm. He flicked his wrist through the air, gritting his teeth at the shock stabbing split knuckles. He whipped around on the ball of his boot, rubbing his wrist in rings. Glancing back over his shoulder to find Gajeel sprawling on the asphalt, cupping his rapidly swelling jawbone, Gray rolled his wrist in a circle. "You might have a hairline fracture. I know a good doctor, if you don't mind being treated by a fairy."

"Gray!" The smallest of the Fairy Tail team's EMT's, her long trailing blue pig tails bouncing around her shoulders, waved her hand to Gray calling him back to the emergency triage units.

* * *

"Watch your head!" Above the team, the second floor was falling to pieces, raining dry wall debris over their heads. Natsu hunched up his shoulders, feeling the shards of wood hit and ricochet off his helmet. The load-bearing beam overhead creaked, moaning as it splintered, cracking like a thunder strike.

Following closely behind Lieutenant Dreyar's hulking form, Natsu moved slowly, wedged between the lieutenant and his right hand man, the green-haired prince of Fairy Tail. He grunted as another heavy shard fell, slicing a glancing blow over his shoulder cap. He could hear the ceiling breaking as they moved forward, groaning under the fire's breath. But, he couldn't see it. Dark coiling black smoke writhed over their heads, surrounding them in an oppressive encompassing shroud.

He hadn't been in the building more than ten minutes and he already felt the sludge weighing on him. Despite the oxygen mask, he still found his lungs choking for clean air, as if just being inside the black storm tainted and poisoned everything. Sweat poured down his spine, causing his undershirt, then even his jacket to cling to his skin. Damn it was hot.

"Chief, we are just en-"

Natsu winced as Laxus' booming voice in their mic was cut off with a spattering hiss. He bumped into the lieutenant's back before realizing he had stopped in his tracks. He couldn't have been more than a foot away – Natsu squinted – but he could barely make out what Laxus was doing. He could see his large mitted hand pressed to his ear. He shook his head.

Then, Natsu's earpiece popped.

"We've lost line to the outside. If we can't get it back in two, we are pulling out."

"But what about the people in this section?"

In front of him, Laxus' hazy silhouette's head shook. "I'm not putting this team in unnecessary risk. We are pulling out."

Natsu growled in frustration. They _were_ just going to run. Wasn't his job to take the unnecessary risk? How was it unnecessary? Even if it was a one in a million shot, wasn't that one in a million worth more than anything to that one? Another thundering crack echoed from the black sludge overhead. Natsu glanced up.

* * *

He flipped the paper up on the clipboard.

"Minor smoke inhalation." Gray muttered. Traced two fingers up the small boy's swollen and reddened chest, he watched the boy's face wince, his eyes shutting to the pain. "Does that hurt?"

"MMMMMM!"

"It's okay, champ. Everything's going to be okay."

"Chest hurts."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"Fire – uhhhhh," tears streamed down his boyish cheeks. He gritted his teeth.

Gray ran his cool fingers over a long broad bruise cut straight over the boy's chest as he snaked the buds of his stethoscope into his ears. "Are your parents here, chief?" Gray kept his voice low and soothing as he listened to the wheezing his ears.

"Roof fell. Hurt."

Gray laid his hand over the boy's shoulder. "It's going to be okay. We'll take care of them, don't worry. All be together soon," he almost whispered, his eyes trailing up to the apartment building engulfed in flames. Gray shook his head, snapping his fingers and pointing to a paramedic, quickly reeled off, "punctured lung, surgery ASAP." Gray walked beside the boy as they wheeled the bed into the back of an open and waiting ambulance. He forced a smile on his lips, patting the boy's small hand. "Going to get you fixed right up, kiddo."

"W-you-com-" The boy tried to sit up in the bed, but only succeeded in racking his body with bolting flares of searing pain erupting form his chest.

"These are my friends. They'll take good care of you."

As the ambulance doors clicked shut, and the truck pulled out onto the street, Gray stalked back to an EMT wrapping layer upon layer of gauze over an unconscious man's leg. The virgin white cotton bled through bloody red in a second just below the knee. Slapping the end of the clipboard on the young man's shoulder, liquid blue fire poured from Gray's eyes as he locked onto him. "You give me one more half-assed diagnosis, I'm going to throw you into that building. Smoke inhalation, my ass. A fucking beam fell on the kid! Crushed his chest. You would have killed him!"

Gray all but wrung the young EMT's neck. And as he turned, feeling just a little bit of relief after delivering his tongue lashing, Gray muttered, "you need that wound closed before wrapping it."

Gods. Gray shook his head, walking away from the tangled mess of frantic paramedics. Most were green as hell, the panic clear in their frightened eyes. On-call residents made up eighty-percent of his team. Pulling the medical mask from his mouth, Gray coughed in the smoky air. His back was on fire, his legs burning as if a million oil-soaked daggers were buried into his hips, trailing down to his knees. He tugged at his clothes, sticking to his skin.

He absently distanced himself form the triage, needing just a second to recapture his thoughts. Twisting a bottle's cap, he upended a bottle over his face.

"Thirty-five minutes since last communication."

"Keep trying. Get me Dreyar on the line!"

Gray froze, his head snapping over to the Chief as he barked. The building erupted, fire exploding like a bomb. The near wall crumbled as the fire roared a dragon's rage into the sky.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Leaving Fairy Tails Behind**


	13. Leaving Fairy Tails Behind (Part 1)

**Chapter 13: Leaving Fairy Tails Behind (Part 1)**

The heat of the explosion kissed Gray's cheek; the flame coiled into the air, chunks of drywall raining down over the parking lot. The explosion left Fairy Tail in a vacuum, silent, with all eyes wide as the ghost of dread fell upon them.

"Who's left?" The fire danced ghosts upon graveyards in the chief's glassy eyes.

"Laxus' squad."

"No word?"

"Keep trying." Gildart's mumbled, his voice lost to the inferno reflecting off his lost eyes.

"Sir? Do we send in another team? We haven't heard from them in –"

"No. She's too unstable."

Beside them like a forgotten notion, Gray's eyes tracked from the burning building to the chief.

"Sir," Zeref snapped, stepping away from the EMT's hovering around dabbing at him with some stinging cotton balls. He pointed to the building, anger flaring in his throat for the first time anyone could recall. "You are going to let them just die in there?"

"Can't send anymore in there. Sit tight, lieutenant."

Zeref stood, blinking dumbly, a fist strike slamming into his chest. Whirling around, he stared at the flames devouring the apartment building. But then his eyes narrowed. "Gray?"

Beside him, the chief scowled, yelling with his deep booming voice over the chaos engulfed warzone. "Fullbuster!"

Zeref watched as he twisted, looking back to them and grabbing the tip of his helmet, he inclined it in a salute as he disappeared into the inferno. With a wry smile crooking his lips, Zeref slammed his helmet over his head and worked the straps of his oxygen mask around his face as he ran.

"Dragneel! Don't you dare!"

"No can do, Chief, that's my brother in there."

Gray moved as fast as he could, bent low, his knees nearly scraping the floor as he shuffled underneath the cloying smoke overhead. Adjusting the mask over his nose, he squinted his eyes through the black musk. Tugging a blue handkerchief from his vest, he tied it over the mask, just underneath his splitting lightning-strike blue eyes in hell. It had been absolutely idiotic, he knew.

Hell, he didn't even have half of the equipment he should've when going into the belly. There wasn't much thought involved. On his way, he'd snatched an oxygen tank, a mask, and a helmet, but he felt the overwhelming heat melting his skin, the smoke clawing at him, without any protective clothing to offer armor against the dragon. But, it didn't matter. The thought wouldn't hit him until much later how unlike him it was. The cool and icy collective shell had melted in that fire leaving him free to drive by the coursing life of his beating heart.

At least, he thought idly as he twisted as an agile night cat over a beam that had fallen from the ceiling and barred the hallway, he could freely move. Sliding his boots out underneath as he landed, he seamlessly transitioned to slide under a collapsed wall that had left a mouse's crawlspace open. His ear piece crackled.

"Gods-damn it, Fullbuster! Get your ass out of there, right now!"

"Not without Nat – them, Chief." Gray let out a breath through clenched teeth, squeezing himself between wicked, jagged debris. Fingers of sharp splinters tore at his EMT scrubs, slicing down to his smooth and pale chest below.

"You get out there, right this gods-damned second or else I'll personally see to it that you never go near a gods-damned fire ever again!"

At that, Gray grinned. "Sounds great, Chief."

"I'm not kidding, Fullbuster! I'm giving you one minute. You don't get out of there by then, you're suspended. Indefinitely."

"Don't need a minute, Chief." Stumbling, Gray flailed his arms out as he tripped over a fallen door he couldn't see through the black sludgy smoke.

"You're going to throw your life away."

Shaking his head, Gray ducked through a doorway, scanning for any sign of the teams. "No. The Dragneel's saved my life twice, Chief. This is what my life means now."

Then another voice crackled in his ear. "Gray."

"Zeref?"

"Damn it, I can't get through here. You find him, you bring him out of there, Gray. You understand me?"

"Sure thing. Start working on clearing up the hallway, Zeref."

"Chief."

"Gods-damn it! I need a full clearing team on me, now!"

And Gray grinned.

* * *

While Zeref was joined by ten members of their family, swinging axes, hauling out armloads of debris, Gray dove alone into the darkness. The smoke had swallowed the world around him. He could only see for about a foot ahead, but, he threw himself through hell's depths all the same. Natsu. Come on, where are you?

 ** _"What are you doing, Gray?"_**

 ** _"What the hell are you talking about? Where are you?"_**

 ** _"Look at you, gods. You're such a dumbass," Natsu cracked, chuckling. "Played yourself up as the knight in shining armor haven't you?"_**

 ** _"Shut up, flame-brain."_**

 ** _"Come on, I mean, did you even think? Look, you've got no gear and you're just bumping into everything."_**

 ** _"I'm coming, so just shut up before I have to kick your ass after I save it."_**

 ** _"Gray. It's okay. You can still turn back."_**

 ** _"No."_**

 ** _"Don't be stubborn, droopy eyes. You don't belong here."_**

 ** _"I belong here more than anyone. As long as you're here, I'm coming."_**

Tripping, he blew out a tight breath, his nose inches from the floor. Letting out a gasp, his eyes shot wide, a thick chunk of wood impaling his palm. He froze, dropping to the floor as his body instinctively curled up. Arm shaking, Gray swallowed past trembling breaths. Stars danced in his saucer eyes as they swiveled to find the sickening spike sticking straight through his hand, splitting between the pads and up through the knuckles.

And alone in the dark, his scream curdled. The smoke consumed him.

 ** _"Gray? Honey, where are you? Say something!"_**

 ** _Huh? Gray groaned, rolling over. His head hurt. Eyes still burned. Gods, it was hot. Uhgh, he hated the heat._**

 ** _"Gray, I'm begging you! Say something!"_**

 ** _"Ur?"_**

 ** _"Gray! Stay where you are, I'm coming!"_**

 ** _What . . . why couldn't she just leave him alone? He just wanted to be alone . . . All alone. If she had just left him . . ._**

 ** _"Gray!"_**

 ** _Go away! Just go away! He pulled his knobby teenage knees into his chest. Why couldn't she understand? Leo. Damn it! What was so wrong? Was it so wrong . . . was something wrong with him? Is that why . . ._**

 ** _"Gray," a thin strong hand clutched his shoulder._**

 ** _Frowning, Gray submitted as the arms wrapped around him, drawing him in. In to someone who cared. Ur. Was she crying? Why did she cry? Ur._**

 ** _"Come on, Gray. You have to get up. We have to get out of here."_**

 ** _"No, just leave me. I want to be alone!"_**

 ** _"Gray," she soothed, running her hand tenderly through his hair. "You aren't alone. You never will be." Drawing her hand between them, she placed her palm over his chest. "This connects us all. The life in you is part of me."_**

 ** _"What are you talking about, we aren't even related! Why the hell do you even care!? Just go away! What's the point?"_**

 ** _"I may not be your mother, Gray, but you are no less my son. I love you. Isn't that reason enough?"_**

 ** _Love._**

 ** _You'll never be alone, Gray._**

 ** _Get up, Gray._**

 ** _I can't._**

 ** _You must._**

 ** _It burns._**

 ** _Get up, Gray._**

"-ere?"

Blinking, Gray froze, and despite his hand nailed to the floor, he forget himself and twisted. His neck craned off the floor. "LAXUS?"

"Gods, Gray! Help!"

Swallowing hard, Gray locked his eyes through the smoke. Gritting his teeth, Gray snarled ferally, ripping his hand up. Skin and muscle tore away, clinging to the jagged wood. But he forget it, balling his hand to his chest as the blood poured. With his feet under him again, he pushed forward and dove through purgatory's reaching flames.

 _ **"What the fucking hell are you doing?" Gajeel's fist was hard and fast. Not that Gray really minded. His chest had collapsed before the blow had even landed. "It's your fucking fault! Your fault!"**_

 _ **"Don't you think I know that!" Gray spat, tasting the copper trailing over his tongue. "Don't you think I know I fucked up!?"**_

 _ **"Oh, you want me to feel sorry for poor little Gray? Gods, look at them! Look at Levi, you fucking ass! You think this is a game!? You think you can just come in here with your half-assed-I'm-a-hero-because-I-say-I-am bullshit attitude?"**_

 _ **"Let me fix it!"**_

 _ **"Gray," the chief's voice boomed low like rolling thunder over barren plains. "You've done enough."**_

 _ **"Let me fix it!"**_

 _ **Gajeel lifted him off the ground, clenching the collar of his jacket in massive hands. "If Levi doesn't make it, neither do you. You got that!? You better not kill her like you killed everyone else!"**_

 _ **"I didn't kill anyone!"**_

 _ **"Hell, you didn't. The moment you stepped into Fairy Tail, you doomed them all."**_

Blood coated the floor, clumping the fallen soot into clots. Two bodies laid motionless on the ground, long strands of hair splayed out, crimson pooling by unresponsive absent faces. Cobalt blue eyes latched onto Gray, wavering tears pouring over salt crusted cheeks. He teetered on his knees, standing guard over the fallen as a crumbling statue. Green, hollow, horror stricken eyes looked to him. Pleading.

Outside, molten fire rained down over the destroyed. A blackened ambulance fell back to Earth with a sickening metal crunch.


	14. Leaving Fairy Tails Behind (Part 2)

**Chapter 14: Leaving Fairy Tails Behind (Part 2)**

"Gr-ay?"

"Natsu." Gray swallowed, and though his hand clenched at his chest still pouring blood down his soot covered, tattered scrubs, his eyes turned icy sharp. He scanned the four person team. With expert, crystal eyes Gray assessed each of his injured Fairy Tail family members in turn.

Laxus faired the best. It seemed his body that would rival Greek gods was more than just for salivating over at night. Though he only had a small cut that ran from his brow to the tip of his ear – Gray shook his head, his eyes solemn – no, though Laxus faired the best physically, Gray saw the wound sliced deep, deep inside. He knew those ghostly wavering eyes. He knew the way the body crumbled, unable to move, unable to think. He knew the mirror.

And he knew just how the insides could be torn apart.

Laxus' towering, powerfully muscular body that would scare the toughest of streetwalkers shook uncontrollably. He was on his knees, his massive arms cradling Freed's pale and unresponsive face on his lap. Laxus' strong fingers trailed through the long elegant green strands of Freed's hair and though he looked up while he did so, his stone cold slate eyes stared straight through Gray.

"Laxus." Gray flicked his eyes over to Natsu. And though the state he was in - a deep gouge coating the side of his face in crimson and the way his eyes looked startled yet distant, the solemn green swimming lost – Gray allowed himself the small lightening of his chest at seeing him still breathing and awake, sitting up against the small room's wall. It hit his heart for three strong thumping taiko beats before Gray forced himself back into his commanding doctorly role.

"Natsu, you with me?"

"Gray?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's me."

"I'm sorry."

"Idiot." Okay, Gray thought, stepping over to his side. Just a few more moments. Crouching down, he wrapped his arms tightly around Natsu. "It's okay. I get it. You had to go." He shook his head, before brushing the sweaty and blood clotted pink hair off Natsu's brow. With a small smile, he placed a light kiss on his forehead, just above the deep cut. Pulling back, he looked deep into the starry unfocused green eyes. "Just like I had to come in after you."

Shifting, Gray swung the triage emergency kit from around his shoulder and popped it open. Drawing sterile pads, he pressed them into Natsu's palm. "Here, look at me, Natsu."

"Gray."

He clicked the flashlight in his hand, noting how Natsu's eyes responded.

"I'm here, babe." Gray laughed at himself at the use of that name. Yes, his place was in coming to rescue the idiot that had saved him. "Here," drawing Natsu's hand up with his, he pressed it against the fountain of blood above his eye. "Hold this here. Can you hold up your arm? Can you do that for me?"

"For you."

Gray smiled, stealing a kiss. "Good, stay still okay? No moving around. Can you tell me what happened, Natsu?"

"Ceiling . . ."

"Okay, good job, Natsu. You did it. You're a hero, Salamander. Now just stay here."

"Sleepy."

"I know, but you have to keep awake, okay? Just keep watching me."

"I like watching you."

Bastard, Gray thought, turning on his heels with his med-kit in his good hand. His heart tripped in his chest. Damn bastard was barely conscious and he could do that to his heart?

Gray took a breath to cool himself back down into his immediately horrible situation. Hissing in a breath, he bared his teeth as he dragged and wrapped gauze tight over the gaping hole through his hand. Tearing at it with his teeth, his eyes grew frigid and cutting as he settled down next to the blond gladiator cradling his unresponsive fiance's limp body. "Laxus, I need you to very, very slowly put Freed's head down."

Gray placed a hand over the massive, corded forearm. "Laxus." _Damn it_. "Lieutenant!"

Cold steel slid over to him.

"Laxus, I'm going to help him. Freed's going to be just fine," _but not if you keep holding his neck up like that you fucking idiot_ , "I'm going to take care of Freed. You trust me, right, Laxus? You said once, I was the best doctor you'd ever met. Remember? You let me give you that shot that time when you wouldn't let anyone else come close to you with that needle. Remember? Let me take care of Freed, let me help him."

 _Gods_ , he let out a pent up breath with relief as Laxus moved. Gently, Gray helped slowly guide Freed's head back down to the hard, flat ground. With his good hand hooked like a c under the back of his skull, Gray brought Freed's head down and laid him on the ground. That was the first step. He glanced at Laxus. The thought of ever chiding him for moving Freed never even crossed Gray's mind. Laxus knew better – but hell – Gray could see the state his fiancé was in had broken the usually iron-willed leader.

And he didn't dare even let himself think about the permanent spinal injury Freed could have suffered because his fiancé had taken him up in his arms. "Good, Laxus, good. Stay right here."

Shifting, Gray ran the diagnostics he could. The pulse was weak and fluttering. The breaths were almost empty. _Shit_. Out of his emergency med-pack, he pulled a rigid neck brace and very gently slid it over Freed's delicately strong shoulders. "You'll be okay, Freed. Just fine." Working over him with an angel's touch, his one hand moved with precision and the soft, soothing speed of a surging wind. He cleaned some deep wounds. Fishing a knife out of his pocket, Gray split Freed's jacket. Because Laxus was watching him, he bit back the curse on his tongue and instead just gently probes fingers over a crushed side.

 _Damn, Freed. Caught the full beam with your side, didn't you?_ Mentally making notes of all the injuries, the crushed torso, the broken ribs, the likely punctured organs, Gray rocked back onto his heels and wiped the beading sweat caused by being inside hell's inferno from his brow. The internal bleeding was bad. Frankly, Gray thought emptily as a calculating doctor – the guy was a goner. Wouldn't last for many more minutes.

And that head injury. He couldn't help the breath he let out between his lips as he closed his eyes and rolled his head back. _Shit. Damn it. Fuck. SHHHHIIIIT! He_ smiled at the hollow-shelled blond. "He's going to be okay, Laxus." Grabbing at the walkie at his waist, Gray stood up. "Code one-one-one. Immediate."

His earpiece hissed static. "Shit, Gray! The fucking ambulance, just fucking blew up! Half of triage is unresponsive!"

"I need a team!"

"There's no one fucking left!"

Gray swallowed, feeling the cold chill slide down his stomach. He glanced to Freed's shut eyes, his calm, battered face. He was a goner. A lost cause. But damn the medical books. If Gray could get him into surgery, there was still a chance. There was a chance. But not if he stayed here for long. Every minute that went by, the last few grains in his hourglass were slipping free.

"Laxus. Laxus!" Gray snapped. "There's an entertainment center tower behind you, see it? That one. Break off one of its walls." Gray didn't even wait a beat before slapping his palm with a fleshy strike over the lieutenant's face. "Damn it, man. Go break off one of its sides, now!"

When the hulking ghost moved off toward the tower, Gray looked one more time at Freed. Then his eyes shot to Natsu as he stepped around Freed's boots and to the fourth team member. "You still with me, there? Natsu?"

"Yeah, sexy."

Gray crouched down next to the next unconscious Fairy Tail member. And his throat constricted. Shit, Lyon. Gently, he probed over Juvia's frame. "Pulse . . . breathing." Gray blinked, _oh gods._ Doubling over in a second, Gray tipped up her chin, looking for any blockage down her mouth. And he brought his lips to hers, pinching her nose as he blew the life of his breath into her. Righting himself above her, he set his eyes, and interlocked his fingers past his destroyed hand. With the butts of his palm, he drove down, pressing, controlled, and collected. "Come on, Juvia. You were breathing just a second ago. Come on. You're stronger than this."

Pressing his lips to hers again, he filled her lungs. "Gods," Gray said with a forced laugh in his throat while he pushed down over her diaphragm again. "If Lyon knew I pretty much kissed you. Hell, if _you_ knew!" Bending in half, he breathed into her again. "Come on, Juvia. Lyon's all sick-puppy-love over you. Come on. Damn it, Juvia!" Gray held, staring down into her calm face. "I love you, don't you know that!? You know, Lyon's my brother! We'll be family, you and me. You just gotta fight through this!"

A loud crash thundered through the room, jerking Gray's eyes up. Laxus stared at him, a strong, thick plank of wood in his hands with the tower in rubble at his feet. Below Gray, a sputtering cough sounded, before Juvia dropped into shallow, but steady breaths. Breathing. Okay, okay. Yeah, you're strong, Juvia. Okay, let's see. Dislocated shoulder, that's no big deal. "Thank you, Juvia. Thank you."

"Gray!" Zeref burst into the room, his chest heaving. "Oh, gods, Natsu!" He pivoted on the ball of his foot and made to sprint straight for his injured brother.

But, Gray managed to head him off, blocking him. "Whoa there!" Gray gripped the older Dragneel's shoulder. "He's okay. He's got a severe concussion though."

"Concussion," Zeref blinked, biting at the bit. He stared desperately over Gray's shoulder to his brother, leaning like a sack with the wall at his back. "Wha-"

"Alright, it's going to be okay. Just listen. I don't have another brace. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't move him until we had a three-man team and a hard-stretcher. But," Gray breathed, "we need to get out of here, now. I need you to support him out."

"Of course, I have him."

"Zeref, support his head." Gray looked pleadingly into the black eyes of Natsu's older brother. "Don't let his neck move. You need to move quickly but steady. No sudden movements. No twisting. Keep his neck in a straight light with his spine." Gods, he wanted to carry Natsu out himself, but Freed's severe condition . . . "Please, be careful with him. Please. We need more people."

"Three right behind me. I am not letting anything happen to him. He's mine."

"Take his shoulders, and support his neck." Nodding, Gray took a breath and let Zeref pass him. _Damn it, please be careful_. He forced himself not to look back. Working with Laxus, they laid the board flat on the ground, and, while Gray kept his neck-aligned with his spine, they slowly slid Freed supine onto the board.

"Gray."

He looked back over his shoulder. Thank gods. Wendy. "Take Juvia."

"On it."

She could take care of Juvia for him. He wouldn't have to waste more time giving out medical instructions. Instead, he turned back to Laxus, holding his grey slate eyes. "With me, nice and slow. On three."

Gently, they hefted Freed's light body that had been burdened down by all his fighting gear into the air. Holding the edges of the board, Gray kept Freed's head aligned as he carefully stepped backwards.

The trip out had been a torturous hell for Gray. He had to watch Laxus' eyes, diving deep into the overwhelming sorrow. It swallowed him whole. And yet, he had to keep moving, keep pushing himself or else they would all be pulled under. Every step had to be cautious, so as not to trip or jerk Freed in any way. Yet, he knew, the longer he took, the small hope that he could hold on to a chance of saving Freed was slipping away.

Gray never could recall the long arduous trip back through hell and into the waiting ambulance. It seemed like one minute, he had lifted Freed into the air, the next he was in the back of a speeding ambulance prepping Freed for surgery. As he fixed an IV line from Freed's arm, Gray caught one glance at the mirror past Laxus' nervous, waiting face. In the mirror, he saw the blaring light, screaming ruby fury into the night atop the ambulance behind them.

Natsu.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Leaving Fairy Tails Behind (Part 3)**


	15. Leaving Fairy Tails Behind (Part 3)

**Chapter 15: Leaving Fairy Tails Behind (Part 3)**

"We're overwhelmed already."

"I'm not asking you for a surgeon." Gray said, his eyes icy blades over the surgical mask he slipped around his ear. He slid his frigid, unyielding glare to the man in his pristine white doctor's coat who slid into the elevator beside him. Keeping the fingers of his good hand wrapped tight around the bar of Freed's wheeled hospital bed, Gray tapped impatiently as the lights signaled their rise through the hospital's floors. "I'm telling you, Musica. I need a prepped surgery room."

"Look, Gray, you're a damn good doctor. But you're not on staff here! You can't just barge in and perform a surgery in my hospital. The insurance –"

Fisting his hand in Musica's coat collar, Gray strong-armed him, pulling him tight against his face. "I don't give a shit about your insurance companies. I care about one thing right now, and if he doesn't get under my hand within a minute he's going to be dead, gods-damn it! When did my mentor become a spineless bitch to the insurance companies, too afraid to practice medicine that you'd stand by, tie my hands, and watch as a hero dies right here?"

Musica sighed, his gaze sliding down to Gray's injured hand. "You expect to perform such a complex surgery with that hand?"

"I can do it."

"Hmph." Rolling his jaw, Musica shifted his eyes to the ascending elevator numbers. "You'll end up killing him."

"You're doing a fine job of that, yourself. I'm at least going to give it a shot!"

"Fool," Musica muttered as the doors slid open with a chirpy _ding_. He pushed against Gray, grabbing a corner of the side rails to Freed's bed. "Left, here."

"Wha-"

"One condition, Gray. You get your hand closed up while I get it started."

"You?"

Sliding Gray a glance sideways with a smirk, Musica spurred them into a run down the crowded hospital corridor. "I'm the Chief of Medicine. You think I can't handle running op with you? You may be the best pilot I've ever had, but you can't fly solo on this one, Maverick."

The surgery doors slammed open on butterfly hinges as their seam met the foot of Freed's bed.

Gray sat, biting at the bit, while his hand was attended to. His eyes were locked on Musica as he took x-rays, sterilized, then began immediately working on Freed, shining scalpel in hand. Surgical nurses buzzed around Freed's head, transferring the oxygen and IV lines Gray had set up from portable to the surgery room's feeds.

"Would you hurry up!?"

"Are you sure about the anesthetic? This is going to really hurt."

"You give me anything, I'll show you the mobility of my hand as I strangle you."

"Sir."

Anything that dulled his feeling, dulled his head, was impossible. For his part, Gray didn't even feel the sutures melding the inner muscles of his hand, piercing through thousands of nerves like searing blades. He kept himself completely focused on Musica's movements. On the medical monitors around the room . . . on Freed's lifeless pearlescent face, tubes shoved down his throat. He didn't feel the thick black, spiky stitches impaling and tugging the hole in his hand closed again. The second the resident clipped the last line from his hand, Gray sprang up, sterilized his hands, and was at Musica's side.

"Bone cutter," Gray ordered, immediately. He held his hand out for the instrument as he took in the damage. Gods.

"Forceps," Musica reached out to a nurse, while he held open the incision he'd made over Freed's fractured ribs. As Gray cut back the shattered bone cage, the chief of medicine snaked his fingers between Gray's with the scissor-like tool in his hand.

"Kelly forceps."

"Watch the spleen."

"Got it," Gray muttered absently. He had barely heard his old surgical mentor – his heart raced as blood pounded in his ears.

But, Gray had not been the chief of medicine's favorite student for nothing. They moved together. As nurses sped around them, holding incisions, dabbing sponges at the blood spilling out of Freed's organs, the two worked seamlessly together. As one clamped, the other cut. Four hands worked in unison, speeding over the destroyed body.

Glancing up to the monitors, Gray noted the small – nearly flat-lining – heartbeat. "Infusion, type O negative."

"Gods, he's O negative?"

Gray just grunted, swallowing with a knotted jaw. O negative wasn't the rarest blood type to have, but it was the hardest to find a donor for. While other blood types could receive blood from different sources, O negative blood types could only receive blood from other people with O negative.

"Check staff files."

Gray shook his head, mumbling. "Room four-twelve, patient Lyon Vastia."

"We can't take blood from patients."

His vision burned, but he dared not look up as his fingers worked within Freed. "He's in recovery. He can be cleared."

"If he's a patient –"

"Damn it! He'll sign a waiver or something. Gods! Every second you wait with this bullshit, Freed's slim chances get cut smaller!"

"In for a penny," Musica sighed, looking to a surgical nurse and nodding him off.

"Manubrium of sternum, Superasternal notch collapsed."

"Lungs impeded, probable puncture."

"Full chest explorative."

"Confirmed."

And so as they clamped off the bleeding coming from the spleen that had been punctured by a fractured rib, Gray began the first incision just under and between Freed's sharp collarbones.

* * *

In the hallway, his hands squeezed tight between his knees – knuckles white rimmed, the hulking Laxus Dreyar sat staring at the floor. He rocked back and forth in slow motions, his blue eyes cloudy and unfocused. Large white gauze was plastered to his forehead underneath his pulled back blond spikes. They'd told him to stay in the bed. Told him to stay absolutely still and rest after the shock his body had been through.

But, gods, Laxus knew Freed was fighting for his life. So he had slipped out of his room and found his way to the surgical room doors. It had taken six nurses to hold him back from the locked door, finally convincing his disoriented state of mind to sit down. He'd sit – the emergency bay's red light casting his sharp, strong jaw in an eerie bloody glow. He'd sit and wait. For as long as it took. He'd wait for his Freed.

A nurse slammed through the surgery doors, and though he heard the footsteps, he just stared as the door clanged shut again. His body wouldn't move. Everything he was had been lost, his whole body chained down by oblivion. In a haze on the plains of despair, purgatory pulling him away from the mortal coil, Laxus watched as the nurse ran back by him, Lyon running in a hobble at his side.

 _Freed._

* * *

While Laxus was caught in purgatory, Gray brandished the weapons of his trade, fighting back the demons of hell. When Lyon came in, they just shared a silent look – a book full of emotion and understanding washing between the brothers. Rolling up his sleeve, Lyon pumped his fist open and closed as he sat in the corner of the surgery ward.

So far they had managed to bring Freed back after he had flat-lined twice and still as his diaphragm stopped moving. Their bag of tricks was quickly running empty, but still Gray and Musica worked tirelessly.

Hours drained by though their hands moved just as fast, chasing after ruptured organs and hemorrhaging arteries, as when they began. By hour four, two nurses were permanently by their sides, dabbing sweat off their brows before it could fall into their eyes.

At the seventh hour, Musica glanced at his surgery partner. "Gray."

"Mmm?"

"Your hand's bleeding."

"That's his blood." Gray pulled out his soaked red surgery gloves.

"What's pooling by your index finger? I see it every time you press down."

"That's –"

"Take a break. Get it checked."

Gray tried to protest, but ended up walking to the sink. Time arguing would have just been wasted. As he peeled off his gloves, he winced. The sharp black suture had punctured the thick latex of the glove and had tugged the stitches free. The raw skin burned like molten fire as the soap trailed over it. Falling into a chair, he held up his hand and a waiting resident hurried to sew him up again.

While the resident tugged at the back of his hand, Gray scrubbed the other over his face. He watched Musica use surgical stitches to meld torn flesh together, then brace the broken bones. Just as the last stitch went into Gray's hand, the last metal screw locked into Freed's chest cavity. Musica wove line after line of heavy-duty stitches up between his pecs as Gray slid on his gloves, pinching them and tugging them over the spiky black wire in his hand.

Musica slid off his gloves, sighing heavily. "Are you ready?"

"Let's do it."

"Sir," one of the nurses in charge of sweat dabbing spoke up. "Shouldn't we page Gotzfried?"

"Gotzfried is one of the best," Musica sighed as he slid his hands into a fresh pair of gloves. "But, I was chief of surgery before becoming chief of medicine. And Gray's just about as good as it gets when it comes to SCI's."

Slowly, the full team shifted Freed's dead weight. Placing him on a rotating bed, they strapped down what they could to secure his frame, holding his head absolutely still as they gingerly spun him. Sliding him, now face down back onto the surgical slab, Musica took in a deep breath.

He bit his lip, staring at the x-rays displayed on screens hanging from the ceiling above Freed's neck. His head shook slowly, absently, as his foot tapped on the ground below. "I'm seeing three incomplete spinal cord injuries," he pointed with a latex covered pinky, "C-3, high lumbar, and low lumbar."

"That's what I'm seeing."

"Start with the C-3, then work down?"

"Agreed."

 _Gods_ , Gray thought, as they began. Possibly the worst places to injure the spine. Anything between the C-1 and C-4 vertebrae would impair Freed's breathing, possibly cutting it off completely. Lumbar, _gods_ , he may never walk again. "Alright, let's begin."

* * *

As the eighteenth hour mark passed, the in-use lights above the emergency surgical room went out. Gray rolled his neck under a palm, watching as Freed was wheeled out. Damn his chest hurt. Felt like it just fucking collapsed. It was like losing another family member.

Musica placed a palm on his shoulder, giving it a supportive, albeit weak with fatigue, squeeze. "You did all you could do."

"Thank you, Musica."

Nodding, he moved on. As the door swung open and his silhouette swept out of the room, it was replaced by Lyon's. His brother rushed over to his side. "Gray?"

Shaking his head, he let out a breath that puffed out his cheeks. Rubbing at his ghostly tired eyes, Gray stared at his brother. "Never seen anyone have worse internal hemorrhaging. His chest . . . _gods_ , Lyon, his spine broke at C-3 and high and low lumbar."

"Shit, Gray."

Gray stared hard at the door they had taken Freed through.

"Twenty-four hours?"

"Twenty-four." Gray nodded. He sighed again before looking back to his brother's sharp blue eyes. "Lyon, how's Natsu?"

With a quick tug at his lips, Lyon relayed, "he's fine. Under observation for a pretty bad concussion, but other than that . . . damn guy has a thick skull, he'll be fine, Gray."

"Yeah, don't I know it. And, how's –"

"Juvia?" Lyon's smile dropped, but he drew his brother in a tight bear hug. "She's stable. Out of surgery fifteen hours ago. Thank you, Gray. Thank –"

"Good." Gray patted the back of his brother's head. Gods willing, they wouldn't lose any of their family that night. "I'm going to go talk to Laxus."

"Gray?" Lyon hitched back. "Can't Musica –"

"I asked him to let me be the one."

"Gods, Gray, you're exhausted. Shouldn't you wait until –"

"No," Gray swallowed, feeling the last drips of energy in his body seeping through his skin. "It's gotta be now. Go be with Juvia, Lyon. Be strong for her."

Lyon gave his brother another hug, but stepped back without further protest. He knew his brother enough to know he was being sent away. Gray wanted to be alone to do this. For Laxus. "Take care of yourself, Gray. I'll see you in the morning."

Nodding, Gray watched his brother leave and allowed himself ten seconds before walking through the door himself.

"Gray."

"Laxus, please sit down." Gray held a light, slightly shaking palm on his massive shoulder.

"Gray, just tell me –"

"Here, let's sit," Gray grunted, letting out a breath as he fell onto a chair next to the one Laxus had been pacing in front of.

"Is Freed . . ." Laxus' strong lips trembled. He crumbled into the seat next to Gray.

"He made it out of surgery," Gray explained slowly. "The next twenty-four hours are critical, but he's strong. You know, Freed. He'll fight endlessly to be back by your side, Laxus. We are going to be watching him very carefully, but he made it over the first hurdle."

"Thank gods," Laxus let out a massive pent up breath. Gripping Gray's forearm with a strong hand, Laxus looked deep into his eyes. The gratitude swam in his nearly empty pools. "Thank you, Gray."

"Hold on, Laxus."

"What? He's fine, right? I mean - he's critical - but like you said – he's strong – he's going to be fine – just fine, right?"

"Laxus," Gray held a supportive grip over the massive forearm. "His injuries are bad, Laxus. He had a lot of internal damage. We had to remove a kidney."

"Remove!"

"His other kidney is healthy. He should live a normal healthy life with the one functioning kidney. He's going to have to get it checked annually, but it should be fine."

"Ca-can you take one of mine?"

Damn, Gray hung his head a little. Look what love did to people. He knew how much your world could be destroyed because of it. And he dared open his heart back up? But he couldn't stop it now. That bastard was waiting for him. "Laxus, we'll discuss something like that if it becomes necessary, but he can live the rest of his life healthily with the kidney he has. Now," Gray squeezed Laxus' forearm a little more, "I need to talk to you . . . when the ceiling collapsed –"

"He pushed me out of the way."

"What?"

"Freed – when we heard the crack from the beams, he shoved me."

"He's a brave man. Laxus, his spine was broken in three places." He watched as the dread of doom fell quickly, swooping down over Laxus' shoulders. "We realigned and braced these fractures with metal hinges and rods so he'll be immobile for a while. But," Gray ran his tongue over the sharp ridges of his teeth, "there's a strong possibility that he may never walk again."

Laxus' eyes drew panicked and wide. "He won't –"

"His lumbar was injured in two places. These injuries affect his feeling and control over his hips, upper, and lower legs. Even after the bone repairs, if the spinal cord was too damaged he won't be able to feel anything below the waist. And," Gray dropped his head a little, "it is possible this will affect his ability to have sex. I know this is a shock, but I need you to listen to me, Laxus." Gray stared straight into his eyes which poured with the pain of his heart. "Freed is going to need a lot of help to recover, and even once he's fully recovered he may not have full control of his faculties.

"This will put a strain on even the strongest of relationships. I want you to remember that this is not your fault, Laxus. And no one will think anything less of you if the burden becomes too much –"

"Burden!?" Laxus bolted to his feet, anger flashing life into his blue eyes with the crash of lightning strikes. "Freed could never be able to move and he'd still be MY FREED. He's my love no matter what! You think I would just walk away!?"

"Good." Gray nodded. "He needs you to be strong, now more than ever, Laxus."

"Can I go to him now!?"

"I'm going to have a nurse take you to him now. You can't touch him, alright, Laxus? I know you want to just take him in your arms, but the most you can do is touch his hand, alright? Just stay with him and he'll get through it."

Gray nodded to himself, watching Laxus tower over the nurse he trailed behind down the corridor. He didn't really know where he was going as his feet moved. He didn't really register where he had drifted until the burning scent of fire and crisp pine surrounded him. Falling into the visitor's chair, Gray weaved his fingers between Natsu's and just as he smiled – the spectres of the long day flew off – and his eyelids fell closed.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 24 Hours**

A/N: I originally planned the last three chapters as one, but couldn't get the motivation to get going. As I was writing what became the first chapter, I decided the only way it was going to happen was in three installments. As a result, I ended up leaving you with cliffhangers which I don't generally like to do as a writer, because I _hate_ them as a reader . . . especially in continuing stories where the next chapter isn't at arm's reach. For that, I'm sorry. But, it was either that, or it probably would have been a long time before I would have gotten through The Beginning arc. Though, I honestly feel it ended up working out for the best this way. I approach each chapter in my free online writings as a succinct short-story tied within the whole. Splitting the chapter into three parts allowed me to focus in on the individual idea import to each, which was good, right?

Hope you still enjoyed the chapters, even if it was a little torturous. I swear I'm not sadistic (both for the chapter break ups and ride).

. . . If it's any consolation, when I'm thinking about and writing a story, I try to and tend to forget about myself and end up getting swallowed in the minds of my characters. As such . . . writing things like these last few chapters take a heavy toll on me. I'm not sure if it's the chicken or the egg, but alas, through this arc I've been pretty down most of the time – a little depressed. Welp, hope it was worth it. Hopefully, as we slide out of this arc, I'll start feeling a little better and so will everyone in Fairy Tail.

I don't know whether to apologize to Gray, Natsu, Laxus, Freed, and Juvia . . . or if I should demand an apology from them to me!


	16. 24 Hours

Disclaimer: I know it, you know it, but hey, let's say it any way. I do not own any rights or even the smallest piece of Fairy Tail. Let's just take a moment and thank the great Hiro Mashima, without whom we wouldn't have such a fun story and I wouldn't have the chance to try my own writer's hand in a Fairy Tail tale. Also, I did not create or own the idea of Silver from Rave Master (also Hiro Mashima and in many ways Gray 1). But, the following is my own creation, using the amazing characters created in these stories. Enjoy.

* * *

 **Chapter 16: 24 Hours**

"Gray?"

"Heh, that's right, I'm Gray." Gray sat up straight, rolling his stiff neck, though his fingers remained interwoven with the fiery green eyed dragon who had melted something inside of him.

"Who else would you be?"

"Well last time I woke you up for a check you called me Jean."

Natsu frowned slowly. He was propped up upon a wall of pillows atop a bed cleaved into the air. He felt ancient. His entire body wouldn't respond to his head . . . not that his head was clear enough to really form a thought. Maybe not ancient – he tried to shift with a palm on the bed – maybe Jell-o. Mmmmmmm Jell-o. Wiggly. His brow fell hard over his waving green eyes in a deep scowl.

"Easy there flame brain." Putting a comforting hand on his shoulder, Gray allowed himself a small smile. Damn, he couldn't believe how good it felt to see those green eyes again. "You have a pretty bad concussion, I don't want you moving around too much."

"Con-cus," Natsu slowly cocked a brow, "cusss." He frowned again, lips pursing.

Gray looked deep into those swimming green eyes. "Don't worry. That happens with concussions." Not green, Gray realized now. Natsu's eyes were a completely unfocused slate haze. They'd lost the fire than burned inside the emerald gems. "You're actually pretty lucky. I'm pretty sure you stopped a floor support with your forehead. You've got one thick skull." Gray froze. He pulled his hand back. How long had he been running them through Natsu's pink hair?

"Don't."

"What? Take your time."

Natsu smiled a little. "Don't stop."

"Huh?"

"Your hand." Natsu leaned back against the billowy white pillows. "Feels nice."

Scratching his neck, Gray shook his head. "Idiot." Reaching out, he wove his fingers back through that silky pink hair. It rolled over his hand like a soft cascading river caressing the rocks with a subtle kiss. "I'm glad you're okay," Gray nearly whispered.

"Others?"

"Everyone is here in the hospital. You'll see them after you get a lot more rest." He spoke softly, forcing himself to swallow past the thought of the long green-haired Fairy Tail princeling fighting for his life in the Intensive Care Unit.

"Okay?"

"Okay."

"No, I mean – uhhh – okay."

"Just rest," Gray ran his thumb gently skating over Natsu's sharp cutting jaw line to his soft cheek.

"Gray. I'm sorry."

"Shhh. I already told you there's nothing to apologize for."

Natsu sighed back, surrendering to his drowsiness as an angel's touch graced upon his lips. Those lips. Natsu could barely register where his legs were, but the feeling of those lips upon his were as a star come to earth to bath him in its ethereal light. It slid like cool icy water underneath his haze, filling his unsteady frame with its divinity.

Smiling, Gray pulled back from those hot lips. There was still the passionate sultry flame upon them and it lit Gray's heart again. That, he realized as he stood, was something he needed. The last day had been a solo hike through the burning pits of hell. But that fiery man grounded him in the chaos. The world had been spinning too fast. The man, lying softly against the virgin white hospital bed, couldn't be just a mere man. He was something so much more. A small smirk tugged at his lips as he watched the soft breaths escape those fiery red lips. The peaceful sleeping face.

And he remembered the rook's nickname.

It suited him, Gray thought again, but this time it filled his chest with an inexplicable warmth. Nothing so amazing could be a man. The only thing that fit was in the wild magical tales of mythology. This pink-haired flame-eater was a dragon incarnate. "Sleep well," Gray whispered, completely giving up. Laxus' distraught face flashed across his mind like a lightning bolt of splitting agony. Gray was a fool, but there was nothing he could do now. He'd already fallen before that pink-maned dragon. "I'll be back in a little bit, babe."

He could almost laugh at himself. Calling someone that. He'd promised himself he'd never get so close to someone else ever again. Natsu shifted a little, his head lolling. And Gray swore as Natsu's lips moved they mouthed:

 _Love you._

"Idiot." Gray let himself chuckle, not knowing if he meant the sleeping dragon or himself. "Oh well," Gray shrugged closing the door to Natsu's room behind him.

"Gray."

"Huh," the blue eyed raven blinked a couple times before falling back to earth and finding the older Dragneel directly in front of his nose. "Zeref?"

"How is he?"

"He's fine. Sleeping now."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"He's going to probably have a couple weeks of living in a fog. No balance, going to find it hard to think of certain words sometimes. But that's all normal, he'll be absolutely fine once he's rested and fully recovered."

"Good."

Gray cocked a brow as the statue of a man he had known for years now let out a tight sigh. Emotion? Zeref? "No need to worry now."

"Good."

"Just let him sleep for now. Probably exhausted. I had to wake him up every hour to check on him. And," Gray stepped past Zeref – for some reason it felt incredibly awkward to be talking to the brother of the man he just kissed so deeply, the man he had fallen for. "You should get some rest. Doesn't look like you've slept in two days."

"I have not." Zeref grabbed Gray just above the elbow, putting enough pressure to be uncomfortable.

The raven cocked a brow.

"Natsu really likes you."

"Yeah, I really like him too."

Zeref squeezed his arm tighter in his grasp. "I do not want you to be around my brother right now."

Gray blinked a couple times, his whimsical smile at imagining the elder Dragneel's complete befuddlement with the world of love, dropped. "Excuse me?"

"I am not going to repeat myself."

"Good, 'cuz I don't want to hear it again." His breath immediately cut with a chilling frost, his blue eyes hardening to glaciers.

"It is in his best interest to not be with you right now."

"And why's that?"

"You are putting him in danger by pursuing him."

Running his tongue slowly over the sharp line of his white teeth, Gray glared directly into Zeref's black eyes. "How in the hell am I putting him in danger?"

Zeref just stared back at the EMT.

"You know, how I remember it, Natsu was in about as much danger as a firefighter could be and you were standing there with a thumb up your ass while I led the way in."

"I am not disputing that. You saved his life and I can never express how much that means to me, but it does not change the fact that your proximity to my brother is going to put him in more danger. You are being targeted."

Forcing out a breath, Gray smiled hollowly. "Don't you think I know that? You'd have to be an idiot to not realize after this long that the Deliora arsonist is after me. No one has that many encounters with crazy fires erupting around them."

"You knew?"

"Of course."

For the first time anyone had ever seen, Zeref knotted his jaw, his black eyes spilling with anger. It lined the dark voice escaping over his tongue. "You knew and yet you still got close to Natsu?"

"Yeah. You just don't get it do you, Zeref? For all your intelligence, hell you are a genius, but you can't understand something so simple? You know, Natsu was the one who made me realize it. He's a firefighter, Zeref. He has a war to fight for his dad, for himself, _and_ for _you_. He's not going to back down no matter what the motive is behind the fires. So I'm not letting him out of my sights.

"I love him, Zeref. I'm going to protect him." He ripped his arm free from Zeref's grasp. And, he shoved his fists into his jeans pockets, walking with hard steps down the white hospital hall.

"I want you to leave him alone," Zeref called after him.

Gray rolled his jaw as he stormed through the hallway. How dare . . . he cracked his neck.

"Whoa, you're freezing the halls, Gray."

"Mph. What, Musica?"

His mentor looked to him with a wry smile. His spiky black hair fell, contrasting harshly with the sheet white of his doctor's coat. A stethoscope hung around his neck, dropping down to the Chief of Medicine insignia brandished over his heart. "I need to talk to you about this whole insurance situation."

"Not now," Gray felt the growl rolling in his throat. "I'm going to go check on Freed."

"Good," Musica continued to smile, his eyes closing as his brows bumped up. He shrugged another white doctor's coat that hung over his forearm. He tossed it at Gray. "Put that on when you go to see him."

"Wh-"

"Great solution to the whole insurance problem, right? You're on temporary staff. Freed Justine is your patient, doctor."

"This isn't going to change the fact that I operated in your surgery ward while I wasn't on staff."

"Oh?" Musica pulled out a clipboard from behind his back. "As I recall, you signed this form of immediate employment with the Chief of Medicine present exactly five minutes before we were in surgery."

Despite the anger still seeping through his blood, Gray couldn't help the smile working its way onto his lips. He snatched the fountain pen out of Musica's jacket pocket. "I want charge over Juvia Lockser and Natsu Dragneel."

"I can't exactly have a doctor on staff with only one patient."

The pen's metal tip scrawled leaving sapphire blue ink over the form.

Taking the clipboard from Gray, Musica still smiled beatifically. "Glad to have you with us Dr. Fullbuster. Oh, and cool the flames before going bedside."

Gray just shook his head watching the Chief of Medicine disappear into an elevator. What the hell was going on in that hospital?

* * *

"How are we doing in here?"

"Gray." Laxus jerked to his feet, rushing to meet Gray as he came to Freed's side. "They keep coming in every couple minutes."

"Just checking in on Freed, making sure he's okay." Gray walked over to the computer next to the bed and typed in his credentials. The screen scrawled with the last set of Freed's vitals. "How are you holding up, Laxus?" Gray asked while reading over the past vital readouts.

"I-I, just. Gray, I feel so fucking helpless! What the hell can I do? I don't want to just sit on my ass and watch him die!"

"Laxus," Gray's gaze snapped up to meet the spiky-haired bodybuilder's empty blue eyes. "He's not going to die."

"They keep just coming in and prodding around him like he's already dead!"

He felt the pain lancing through the blond's heart more than he heard the words. He saw the quivering tears forming under his eyes more than he saw the large behemoth of a man under the soft low lights of the monitors in the dark room. "We are taking care of him, Laxus. You and me. We're here and we aren't going to let him die." Gray tapped a couple monitors, setting the blood pressure cuff strapped around Freed's pale arm to inflate. He watched the monitors as he recorded the heartbeat – just barely holding on. But, six hours after surgery, he would take barely holding on. He would take that gladly . . . over the alternative.

Gray had his back to the door, recording a new set of vitals when the door opened and the lights flicked on.

"You're still here!?"

Gray frowned, turning toward the harsh voice. A nurse in blue scrubs tracked over to Laxus and to Gray's amazement stared straight up into Laxus' eyes as if they were equal men. It looked as prairie mouse chiding a lion.

"I told you to go home and get sleep. You are just in the way here, and you are not doing anyone any good. Get out of here, get of our way unless you want him to die."

Gray coughed into his fist. His eyes were cold on the nurse as he spun with a shocked face to find Gray standing at Freed's bedside.

"Oh, hehhh – Doctor – I didn't realize you were here."

"Clearly."

"I was just reminding this concerned –"

Gray ignored the nurse, speaking directly to Laxus. "Have you done anything more than lightly touch Freed?"

"I . . . I just put my hand over his."

"Have you in any way impeded the nurses from doing their job, checking on Freed, changing his infusion and IV?"

"No."

"Good, then," Gray shifted his unamused glare to the nurse who broke out in a sweat under those icy eyes. "Then here is what the actual doctor of the patient is going to recommend. Not only should Laxus Dreyar stay at Freed's side, I want him talk to him, let him know that nothing – even hospital staff – is going to come between him and the man he loves.

"Laxus," Gray's eyes softened with the edge smoothing out in his voice. "Don't let him go. Everything is looking good. I'll be back in just a little bit to check on you both again. Nurse, a word."

When the door clicked shut, the nurse immediately began laying down a long-winded script of why he'd been trying to 'nudge' Laxus into taking care of himself. Gray just held up his palm. "I don't care. You are not to go near any of my patients again. I don't need a nurse-would-be-doctor around them or me."

"I – who are you? I've never seen you here before, _Doctor_."

Gray smiled wickedly. "Good. Let's make it a habit. I don't want to see you again." Gray watched the nurse retreat down the hallway with no sympathy. No one would come in the way of Freed's recovery.

"Gray."

Wow, Gray thought, he'd meet everyone that day in the hospital hallway. His head was already spinning. It felt like each new person was another kick to send him off-axis. "Chief Makarov. Chief Gildarts."

"How's my future grandson?" The small white haired fire-chief asked with an even voice, though the worry in his eyes betrayed his calm. Freed was his family now.

Family. Gray tucked his hands into his coat pockets. "He's going to be okay." He shouldn't have said that as a professional doctor. But he wasn't going to allow Freed to be anything else. "The next eighteen hours are critical. We need to take each hour at a time."

"Are you looking after him?"

"Yes, he's going to make it out of this."

"I'm glad, Gray. I wouldn't want anyone else but you looking after my grandsons."

"Gray," Chief Gildarts' voice boomed deep and gravely. "You disobeyed my orders."

"Gilly, not now." Makarov gave Gildarts a single cool glance, then turned with a smile to Gray. "He's in here, right?"

Gray stepped away from the door, motioning for them to take his spot. "They both are. The more support, the better – both for Freed and Laxus." But as Gildarts reached for the door handle a full three feet above Makarov's head, Gray stopped him. "Do not let the Freed's appearance shock you. He was hurt very badly. Right now, Laxus will pick up on even the smallest sign that you are taken aback. They need you both to be rocks."

"Thank you, Gray." Makarov patted Gray's calve softly as he moved past him and into the room.

* * *

"How's she doing?"

"Better than expected." Lyon smiled easily, keeping Juvia's hand wrapped in his. "How is Freed?"

"To be expected," Gray sighed.

"Well."

"Yeah."

"How about Natsu?"

"Ha, he'll be fine. Sleeping now." Gray logged into the patient computer next to Juvia. "Musica hired me on temp. I've got Freed, Natsu, and Juvia."

"Hmmm, always were Musica's favorite. Using that to try and steal Juvia from me, huh?"

"What the heck are you talking about?"

" _Oh, Gray, I knew how much you loved me. And you fought to be my doctor looking over me after you valiantly rushed into a burning building for me!_ Don't think I don't know how much you want her back."

"Lyon?"

Though he tried, he couldn't keep up the bit, and let his lips split wide in a grin.

Gray rolled his eyes, not able to hold back the smile tugging at his lips. "You're an idiot."

"And you were too inside your head again."

"Maybe." Gray sighed, logging off the computer after everything checked out. He fell into a seat next to his brother.

Lyon fished his free arm around Gray's shoulders. "How are _you_ holding up?"

"I'll manage."

"Freed's going to pull through. He's as tough as they come."

"Yeah, I know. I just . . . a lot has happened."

"So tell me about it."

And so Gray did. There was a time when it took a chisel and pick to hack away endlessly at Gray's icy core and not get off a single chip of real emotion. Lyon had watched the brother he knew retreat back deep inside of himself after Ur. But now, his brother who he would have described as trapped in an iced shell was freely spilling his heart to him. And though he probably shouldn't have, he couldn't help the surprise when Gray told him how he'd blown up with the Chief and then with Zeref. How long had it been since Gray let the tempest free?

Gray sighed after he ran dry of words. He glanced up at the clock on the wall, before patting his palms on his quads and standing up. "I need to go check on Freed. Thanks, Lyon."

"I didn't do anything." Lyon smiled, his eyes shining.

Swiping his fingers back through his raven hair, Gray thought of the amazingly strong man who bore a lightning bolt scar over his eye tenderly holding his fiancé as close to him as he could. "No, you were there." Gray glanced back to his brother out of the corner of his eye. "That means everything."

After checking back on Freed, Gray took a detour for the cafeteria before returning back to the place where he was meant to be. Zeref stared hard at him as he entered Natsu's room, but he paid him no mind. Pulling a chair to Natsu's side, Gray balanced the metal trey of food on his lap.

"How are you doing, Natsu?"

"Sleepy."

"Yeah, I bet. Do you feel any pain?"

"Not now – that you're here."

"Amazingly loose tongued. I'll chalk that up to the concussion," Gray smiled lovingly. "Here," Gray picked out a plump red grape from a small clear bowl, "do you feel up to eating?"

"Gray," Zeref said with a dead tone. "Are you just going to ignore what I told you?"

Smiling as Natsu took the grape with his teeth from between Gray's fingers, Gray held up another piece of succulent fruit to his lips. "Nope. But I am Natsu's doctor. And my place is by his side."

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Always Family**


	17. Always Family

Disclaimer: I do not own any right to Fairy Tail or Ravemaster, nor its characters. They are the sole property of their creator, Hiro Mashima, and publisher. The following story is meant for entertainment purposes only and neither I, the author, nor the forums in which this story is posted expect to or will receive any monetary compensation. Support the original work.

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Always Family**

Yawning wide, Gray scrubbed a palm over his face. He glanced at the clock on the wall across from Natsu's hospital-white bed, mentally ticking off the time from his last check up with Freed. His jaw split wide again, tired tears burning in the edges of his icy blue eyes.

"You should sleep."

"Is the patient lecturing the doctor, now?" Gray's mouth crooked, his eyes waving with the inexplicable feeling burning in his chest every time he looked at the pink-haired iron-willed firefighter rooky. It spread through his entire body, flooding life through his veins. Out of this world, Gray thought absently. Completely.

Smiling lazily, Natsu raised a shaky hand, framing Gray's cut jaw. "You need to take care of yourself, too, babe."

"Heh, 'babe'?"

"What, you are allowed to call me that, but I can't call you babe?"

"Mmm, you heard that, huh?"

"Bet your ass, cute ass."

"Ahem." The older Dragneel, sitting stubbornly in the corner of the hospital room cleared his throat.

"Sorry, Zer." But, Natsu kept his eyes trained on the blue-eyed demon in his life. He lowered his voice. "You know, you do have a cute ass."

Chuckling, Gray raked his fingers through his strewn raven hair. "That concussion has made you incorrigible! Mmm, if that's all your mind is on, I guess I should tell you something as your doctor. You are not to do any heavy activity that would put any strain on your body or jostle your head - that includes sex - for a couple weeks."

"Wh - what the hell is that!"

"And of course, as your doctor - and your boyfriend - I'll be strict on that rule."

Natsu blinked, a wolfish grin spreading his lips. "Boyfriend?"

Gray winked, "bet _your_ ass."

"Boyfriend," Natsu whispered, "boyfriend, my boyfriend, Gray." He nearly giggled, dropping back onto the puffy white pillows behind him. "I like the sound of that."

"Good." Gray brushed a fallen strand of Natsu's pinky spike hair back off his brow. Now, if he remembered that tomorrow who would know? But Gray couldn't deny that he liked the sound of it too.

"Gray."

"Yeah?"

"Your hand."

"Mmm." The raven-haired man rotated the back of his hand up. Thick white gauze wrapped around his wrist, crossing over the webbing past his thumb to thickly pad over the stitches holding the deep gouge in though the center of his hand closed. "It's not a big deal, don't worry about it."

"What . . ." his brow creased, concern wavering in his slate-green eyes. "Was it because you came in after me?"

He tagged Natsu on the chin with the fingers free past the thick white wrapping of bandage. "I was just clumsy. Now get some more sleep, I see you trying to fight to stay awake."

"I want to keep talking with you."

"Idiot, we'll be able to talk as much as you want from now on. But get some sleep, I have some rounds to make anyway."

"Mmmmkay," Natsu mumbled, nodding off. His eyelids fell closed. And almost immediately a soft snore filled the air.

On a dime, Gray thought. He stood up, wincing as he placed his hands in the small of his back and stretched against the stiff, bruised, protesting muscles. He picked up the last chunk of plump golden pineapple off the metal food trey, popping it into his mouth.

Walking out into the hall, he almost sighed, but he bit back at the knowing irritation of Zeref Dragneel in his shadow as the door closed.

"You are going to put him in further danger."

"He's already in danger, Zeref." Gray fed his arms through the long sleeves of his new white doctor's coat.

"You put him there."

"Yeah."

Gray nearly smiled as a fist curled in his coat, spinning him around.

"How dare you, you selfish -"

"Damn straight." Gray smirked. "It's about damn time, don't you think, Zeref? I've spent my whole gods-damned life surrounded by flames. I've lost nearly everything."

"You think you are the only one who has lost someone important to you? I will be damned if I am going to sit by and let you take my brother from me."

"And so will I," Gray replied, his voice cool and even. "I didn't ask for this. I sure as hell never wanted to feel this way. But I do, so we are going to both have to deal with it. I am not going to lose anyone else, Zeref."

He flicked off the elder Dragneel's grasp and tugged his white doctor's coat straight. "Now you will listen to me." Gray stared directly into Zeref's black eyes, his own, icy and piercing. "I am Natsu's doctor and I have the full authority to kick your ass out of this hospital if I find it necessary."

"Threats are not going to work on me, stripper."

"Anger," Gray's smirk curved more. "You certainly are showing a lot more emotion than ever before. What happened to your cool, detached logic? Threats? No, I just want to speak clearly so that you fully understand me here."

Gray continued, feeling the tether tying them snap with a sharp twang, irreversibly cut. It hurt - Zeref was one of the few people Gray could call a friend. "You will not get in my way. Is that understood? Despite how you feel about me, I want to avoid any of that. For Natsu. He loves you. And he needs his family by his side as he recovers. He needs his family to _support_ him, not _shelter_ him."

-Dr. Fullbuster to Surgery, immediately. Dr. Fullbuster to Surgery, immediately.-

Dread fell thick and heavy, poison ladened air around him, with the voice over the hallway intercom. "Go be with your family, Zeref." Spinning on the ball of his foot, Gray took off in a run down the sterile white tiled hall. His doctor coat flapped like wings behind him as his fire boots' rubber soles slicked against the polished floor.

"Gray!" Laxus locked on to him outside the surgery room fire door, his blue eyes strained in desperation.

"I'll protect him," Gray said with authority, pushing into the ward. Frantically scrubbing his hands, he glanced at a surgery nurse at the cleaning station next to him. "What's the situation?"

The nurse spoke quickly behind a pink surgical mask. "Kidney failure, sutures are free, blood loss extreme," he listed before his voice dropped into a hopeless whisper, "terminal."

Gray held up his hands as another nurse aided him by sliding on thick surgical gloves. He glared at the first nurse with icy eyes over his surgical mask. "He's not terminal." Gray raised his voice as he settled in at Freed's side. And he looked to each of his aides in turn. "This man on the table before you is a hero. He has continually put his life on the line to protect Magnolia's citizens. You will all give everything you have here today to keep him alive."

He glanced at a random nurse. "I need Musica here, now! Get him!"

"Yes doctor!" The nurse nearly fled out of the surgery room, chased by the blue fire burning in Gray's eyes.

He led the advance of his team into the battlefield. His fingers moved rapidly, blurring with the skill of his surgical expertise. The Chief of Medicine was at his side within three minutes.

Dr. Fullbuster just spoke, not daring to look up once from the work under his hands. "I need your help."

"You don't even need to ask." He interlocked his fingers, cracking them. "It was a miracle with his condition a couple hours ago, what does that make this?"

"Just another day in the office." Gray held his forceps, clamping a hole where their medical sutures had pulled free from the internal stress in Freed's system. The Chief of Medicine dove right in, without any need for communication between former mentor and pupil.

"How are the O-negative stores?"

"Not going to make it with the loss I'm expecting here."

"Shit."

"Lyon can't donate again so soon."

"I know," Gray mumbled. He bit his lip behind the surgical mask. "Laxus is . . ."

"Is that the burly man outside?"

Nodding, Gray held up the conversation while his fingers worked seamlessly inside Freed. "Laxus is O negative."

"Wagner, go get him, ask him to donate."

"He'll do it," Gray mumbled, "he's Freed's fiancé."

"Shit." Musica cursed. "Wagner, wait!"

"Wait!?" Gray's frigid eyes snapped up.

"Damn it, Gray. You know we can't take blood from him."

"Don't do this now."

"Wagner, search every database. We need O negative in here ten minutes ago."

"Laxus is right outside!"

"We can't. You know we can't."

"You'd rather see Freed die?"

"Don't give me an ultimatum," Musica growled low behind the blue surgical mask covering his nose and mouth. "There are tens of thousands who rely on this hospital. We can't take his blood. There's no getting around this like last time, with you. It's against the law."

Gray shook his head, his lip curling. "It's a bullshit law."

"Agreed. But, I can't do it."

"Then leave right now. Why don't you leave Freed to me while you go explain to a man who'd give his life for Freed why he can't donate blood to save his life, because he's gay?"*

"Fight the fights you can win."

Gray worked furiously, his eyes icy and determined. "I'll decide what fights I can win."

* * *

Hours later, Gray and Musica were scrubbing their hands again, soap foaming around their knuckles.

"You've changed."

"Maybe." Gray sighed, looking out the window over the sink to where two nurses wheeled Freed out of surgery, through back doors into observation.

"There's no maybe about it, you have."

"If you say so, Musica."

The Chief of Medicine smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I like it. I like the man you have become, Gray." He left without another word.

Shaking his head, Gray watched the swiveling door flap back and forth to his exit. He grabbed at the metal sword hanging over his chest under his surgeon's scrubs. Fishing out the metal chain, he held the blue tinted metal in the palm of his hand. Squeezing it tight in his fist, Gray nodded firmly.

Musica was there in his life when he needed someone. Needed a parent. The then Chief of Surgery had taken him under his wing on the first day of Gray's training residency. He had been a constant in Gray's life since that day in a way he had never truly appreciated.

He had been so strict. Always pushing, always riding Gray to the brink of getting a punch in the face in reply. It never got that far. Opening his fist against, Gray gave a small smile to the cool metal sword. He never realized how much he wanted - needed - Musica's approval. The Chief of Medicine had given him that pendant when he finished residency. It had been something Musica had always worn. A good luck charm, he said, he'd always have a sword ready for any fight to come.

Tucking it back under his shirt, Gray set about rewrapping his injured hand in a thick layer of stark white gauze. As much as he tried, Gray realized, it had been a futile effort to hide away from the world, to push everyone away at arm's length. His brother had stuck by his side, Musica was there. All of Fairy Tail was his family. And now, Natsu.

"Gray."

"He's in observation now, Laxus."

"Is - is he . . ."

"Laxus, he's not going anywhere." He gripped Laxus' massive shoulder with his hurt hand. He wasn't just a friend. Laxus. Freed. They were a part of him. Family was not who you were born to, Gray smiled easily for the first time in front of the pained, worried blond giant. Family are the people in your life who would stand by your side against the most dangerous of fires, both out there, and within our own heads.

"We are coming up on twenty-four hours. His odds are climbing ever minute that goes by. We are over the worst of it, now, Laxus." What was more, Gray actually believed that. Two surgeries and near zero odds. If he hadn't gone already, he wasn't going to now. "Go ahead and go back to the room. They'll bring him back to you after an hour or two in observation."

"Gray." Laxus muttered, wrapping his thick corded arm's around the raven-haired doctor and squeezing him for all he was worth. He arched his back, picking Gray up in the air like a rag doll. He buried his face sideways in Gray's white coat.

"I know. I know." Gray managed, his lungs squeezed in a death coil by a restricting boa. Suppressing the cough as Laxus put him down on the ground, Gray smiled. "Go get some rest."

This was his family, Gray thought as he helped the towering blond back to the ICU. His phone buzzed in his pocket. "Lyon?"

"Juvia's awake."

The other end of the line clicked and Gray headed for the elevators.

Family.

* * *

"Juvia."

"G-Gray-sa –"

"Shh," Gray held up his palm. The smile on his face hurt. But he just couldn't help it. It was the look on Lyon's that did that. He hovered next to her side, half protecting, a wounded and hobbling sentry, half ready to dance a jig, the cast on his leg be damned. "I don't think you're supposed to be up."

"You're not _my_ doctor." Lyon grinned.

"I don't want you talking too much," Gray sat on the side of Juvia's hospital bed, directing himself back to his patient as he patted her arm. "You need to just rest for a while."

"Gray-sama."

"I'm glad you are back."

"Because of Gray-sama."

Feeling a slick ice trailing down his spine, Gray jerked to his feet. He rubbed the back of his head, the awkwardness plain on his face. "Uhm, yeah, well –"

"Gray-sama will make a good brother some day."

Gray blinked.

Lyon cocked a brow, his head snapping to the side.

A weak smile lifted her pale-colored, drained lips. And she took Lyon's hand. "Sorry."

Whipping his head back and forth, Gray stared at his brother. "Did you – you two . . ."

Lyon was slow to shake his head. "No."

"Juvia was just talking about the future."

Gray took in a long deep breath. That had been too much of a shock to his head. But, Lyon looked to be on cloud nine. "Alright," Gray swept his raven hair back. "Well, I guess on that note, I'll leave you two alone. Uhh," Gray swallowed trying to get steady back on his feet, "Lyon, just call if you need anything." There were hundreds of things he should have said as her doctor, but he'd leave that task to his equally qualified brother.

His head still shaking slowly back and forth, Gray leaned back against the wall outside Juvia's room.

The future.

And to that end, when he got back to the room of the fiery pink-haired man who had melted his soul so that he could see all that lay around him, Gray looked directly into the black eyes of the person sitting in the corner. "Can you come out to the hallway? I need to talk with you."

"There is nothing more I have to say," Zeref said flatly closing the door to Natsu's door behind him.

"Then," Gray sighed, "just listen. Look, I am not going to leave Natsu now."

Zeref crossed his arms over his chest. "You have already said as much."

"Yes, and I want you to know that I mean it. There's nowhere Natsu goes from here that I will not follow. I'm done running. If this is my responsibility, I will be the one to fight. I'm not going to back down to this arsonist and I'm not going to back down to you.

"I get that you don't understand this. You don't understand the way I feel about your brother. Look, I don't either." Gray grabbed the sword underneath his shirt again, Freed's broken face, air tubes feeding down his throat, flashed across his mind. "But I know that I am not going to let this go on. I can't lose anyone else, and that includes you, Zeref.

"Two years. We've gotten to know each other pretty well, Zeref. And I'm going to tell you this straight out. You are important to me. Your brother, I love him. And you are his family. I know that he is the most important thing to you and that makes you even more important to me. I can't help what is happening out there, but this," Gray signaled between them, "right here, is something we can do. Well?"

Zeref ran his tongue over his top teeth, swiping slowly over the razor edge. "You talk too much. You were not like that before."

"Heh, blame your brother."

Zeref's chin jerked sharply.

"Is that a yes? Okay?"

"It is not a no." Zeref muttered, turning around and disappearing into Natsu's room again.

Gray swiped his fingers back through his raven hair. "I guess I'll settle for that."

"So the patient in there is the reason, huh?"

Gray let out a single laugh. "How long have you been here?"

Musica, his arms crossed over his chest, leaned against the hallway wall. One foot lay flat against the wall. He smiled crookedly. "Long enough."

"What do you want?"

"Mmm, call it satisfying curiosity over a sudden change in a kid of mine."

"That's what the Chief of Medicine does?" Gray stuffed his hands into his coat pockets, turning with amusement shining in his azure eyes. "Lot of free time on your hands, huh. Maybe I should try and get there one day, sounds like a cush job."

"It has its advantages." Musica tapped his heel on the wall. "Like this." He tilted his head to Gray. "How about staying on staff permanently?"

"Eh? At this again? I thought I told you -"

Musica nodded. Waving his hand tucked over his elbow. "That your place was as an EMT. Then why did you go through medical school and full residency? You don't need that to be an EMT. You've done a lot of good in these halls in one day, doctor." He stared at his old protégé knowingly and eventually shrugged when Gray made no response.

"Well, think about it. If you did maybe you'll land my cush job some day. Fat chance, but you never know." Musica started to walk away. He threw his hand over his shoulder. "Oh, and by the way, you look like an idiot with the fireman pants and boots under your scrubs and coat. I'll cover for a little while."

Gray rolled his eyes.

But, he found himself back at the Fairy Tail Fire Station in half an hour just the same. "Happy." Gray smiled, bending down to pick up his midnight-blue furred cat as he walked into his room. "How are you, little buddy?" Happy mewled in reply, purring a deep throaty purr as it rolled its head against Gray's chest. He sat down on the corner of his bed, rubbing Happy absently while he thought.

It was quiet. The fire station had been scarred again. Gray glanced at Happy's food and water, checking that its automatic system was still keeping his little guy healthy. Twenty-four hours. The world had flipped. Looking over to his nightstand, his gaze lingered on the saxophones lined on their stands next to his bed. From the deep bronze of the large tenor to the small curving delicate silver soprano, Gray saw their owner.

"Ur." He turned over his heavily bandaged hand that rested atop Happy's small blue head. It would be a sometime before he would be able to play again. "Do you think, I'm crazy, Ur? Am I doing the right thing?" The saxophones just sat there. He scratched the side of his head. "Well, I've wasted enough time. Placing Happy on the ground, he set about stuffing a duffel with spare clothes. Happy wound around his feet as he packed.

"Alright, Happy." He checked the automatic food and water dispenser again, refilling both. "I'll see you in a couple days. Be good." He shouldered his packed duffel and snatched another two empty bags from his closet. Happy pressed against the side of his boot, arching his spine as he rubbed the full length of his body across his man. Gray patted him on the head before leaving again.

He made for the Dragneel room first, filling one duffel with clothes for Natsu. He ran his thumb along a long white scaly muffler carefully tucked in the back of his underwear drawer. And he stared for an eternity at a picture mounted on the dresser's top. A small boy with fiery pink hair grinned, his white teeth shining in such a carefree happy smile. He held onto the leg of a fierce man standing proudly next to him.

He bore the same brilliant pink spiky hair as Natsu, and he looked rather like the man Gray knew today. Strong, perfectly built, with a burning flame in his bold green eyes. He smiled out from the photo, one palm atop the young fiery child's head. His other arm was snaked around an older and taller teen. Unlike the other two, he had jet-black hair, slicked back over dark deep black eyes. He had his arms crossed over his chest, and he stood rigid as a steel pole, but he wore a small smile which pulled at his lips.

The sun shown upon all three of them on such a perfect blue day. And Gray glanced down to the muffler he had pulled out from the drawer. It waved in a small wind, wrapped around Igneel's strong neck on that day. Gray tucked it carefully into the duffel.

Zipping up the bag, he headed for the room Laxus and Freed shared. And he packed another bag for them both.

"Gray?"

"Ah, Chief Makarov. Thought I'd pick up some fresh clothes for them."

"You're a good boy, Gray." Makarov looked up at him. "Thank you."

"What's up, Chief? You've got a weird look on your face." Gray shouldered the third duffle bag.

"A lot has happened."

"Yeah . . . what is it?"

"Gildarts wants to talk with you."

"Mmmkay." Gray walked past the tiny fire chief. "You are coming?" He cocked a brow.

"I am."

"There's no need to look so down, Chief. Everything will be okay."

"This isn't about Freed."

"I know," Gray offered a small smile. "I knew what I was doing, Chief. Still do."

"Gray. Sit down."

"If it's all the same, I'll keep standing, Chief."

Gildarts grumbled. "Gray. You went against my orders out there, yesterday."

Gray just stood, stiff-spined in the center of the. Fire Chief's office.

"I am not ignoring the result of your actions. Four of my people are alive today who wouldn't have been if you had listened to me. However," Gildarts growled, "the fact that you disobeyed the chain of command in the middle of a life-threatening situation remains. Do you have anything to say?"

Gray shrugged, the duffel bags heavy on his shoulders. "I did what I needed to, what I thought was right, and what I still do. If I had it to do again, I'd do the same."

Gildarts rose, leaning his weight on his outstretched palms on the face of the desk. "While I am grateful beyond words for the result, it could have very easily been different and we would have lost another member of our family yesterday. How many would have died trying to rescue you, then, Gray? There is a chain of command - there are rules - for a reason."

Makarov stood on the desk's top, his hands clasped behind his back, silent. His face was grim.

Gildarts slammed his fist down. "I have no choice, Gray. I am suspending you, indefinitely."

Gray just stared back at them, his face an unchanging mask. "May I go now? I need to get back to the hospital."

Gildarts flicked his hand through the air, his eyes boring holes through his desk. "Go."

Gray inclined his head, turning for the door.

"Gray," Makarov called. "This is your home. Your room will always be yours."

The door clicked shut behind him. Makarov let out a long tight breath. "You are sure this is what you want, Gilly?"

"I am." Chief Gildarts flipped over a soot stained paper on his desk. And for the hundredth time since the last fire scanned the last two lines:

The game is over.

Gray skies will rain death.

"We keep him here. We keep him safe."

* * *

Next Chapter: Sunrise

*A/N: In the United States:

1985: FDA bans blood donations by men who have had sex with other men in response to the scare over HIV transmission through blood transfusions. At a time of high concern of a deadly disease which proliferated among gay and bisexual men and was used as a weapon politically/socially to condemn them, the FDA considered the risk of HIV in the gay/bisexual male population to be too high.

Despite testing that is mandated for blood-born illnesses and viral infections, this mandate continued into the new millennium. HIV and AIDS were largely considered to only affect gay men who were considered as lepers and dangers to society rather than people in need of aid and medical research. Blood transfusions were the first major scare for the heterosexual community, in which they were now susceptible to the "gay disease." Despite the reality that HIV could spread between any to humans through sexual and/or blood contact, the stigma remained.

2006: The American Red Cross recommends changing deferral periods to 12-months instead of lifelong donation bans.

2016: The FDA overturned the lifelong deferral period created in time of fear, only to replace it with a rule that allowed gay and bisexual men to donate blood only if they have not had sex with another man within a year. Obviously, this left many men who wished to donate blood and save lives still unable to do so.

HIV stands for the HUMAN Immunodeficiency Virus. It is not the Gay Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Propagating outdated beliefs that a given subgroup of our populace are to blame or will spread HIV more – even though as a group gay man are the most aware and take the most measures to prevent HIV transfer – only maintains bigotry and false understanding within our society. Here are the facts: all people are susceptible to this virus. All blood donations, regardless of source, are rigorously tested for a wide swath of diseases and viruses. There is no room today for the continuation of outdated hurtful ideas subjugating millions.


	18. Sunrise

Disclaimer: I do not own any right to Fairy Tail or Ravemaster, nor its characters. They are the sole property of their creator, Hiro Mashima, and publisher. The following story is meant for entertainment purposes only and neither I, the author, nor the forums in which this story is posted expect to or will receive any monetary compensation. Support the original work.

* * *

Chapter 18: Sunrise

The only split in the utter darkness consuming him was the subtle glow of artificial lights on the army of machines monitoring the love of his life. Laxus' rough palms rubbed together slowly. He stared, completely unfocused, completely lost. The constant beep recording the fight his green-haired prince fought against the whirlpool of death rang like whip cracks against his system. Death, Laxus realized swallowed in the darkness, was really all that was sure. And he felt himself on the doorstep as he sat alone. When the ceiling had collapsed above them, though Freed shoved him out of the way, how he wished he could have laid broken underneath the beams.

He felt broken anyway. Even though his body was whole, he couldn't feel the world around him. Though Gray had dropped off clean clothes, he sat still in his torn, ash blanketed fire protective gear. His blue eyes drained hollow. His blond hair was still blackened by the soot of the aftermath, painted with cloying death.

He'd felt like throwing up at one point, felt like slamming his fist into the wall until it was bloodied, felt like crying and drowning in it all, but he just sat completely silent. Eyes slowly scanning over to the drawn window shade, too-bright light splitting it at its seams, Laxus slowly shook his head. Outside of those walls, the world was moving on, time did not stop. The sun would rise and set, people would go on with their lives. But none of it mattered. His place was in the dark, with his man. Freed.

His name was so apt. How he had felt so light and free every day he was with that star come earthbound. And as he lay still, Laxus felt that freedom seeping away, leaching out of his hollow frame. Light breaths shook out of his wracked throat.

But the warm light streamed through the slits of the window shade. Even in the deepest of darknesses, light found its way into the depths of despair. A single line of light scanned across his hollowed cheeks as the sun rose into the sky over the world that did not belong to Laxus anymore.

The light shown across his empty blue eyes.

"L-axus."

The hulking blond blinked. He jerked, his spine becoming a frozen pole. Laxus tightened his grip on the clammy palm between his. When eyelids split over beautiful aquamarine gems, Laxus' jaw shook. Tears poured flashfloods down his face, unstoppered dams breaking. "Freed? Freed!"

Moving through a thick haze, Freed's finger slowly twitched, it moved to run shakily over Laxus' touch. "H-hey." The green haired fireman managed. A small smile tugged at his thin lips.

The single ray of light scanned across the two connected hearts. Freed's eyelids slid closed again, though the small gracing smile never left his lips. It shown over Freed.

* * *

Scrubbing at his bloodshot eyes, Gray's jaw split wide. Natsu looked at him with a beatific smile that never quite left his lips. The color had been slowly coming back into his face over the last several days. Though, he still felt like he was swimming through a swaying midnight glacier lake covered in a thick rolling fog.

Gray rolled his tongue in his cheek. He couldn't quite handle the fiery gaze that had grown with the shine of the fire dragon's sparking green eyes. They still were buffed in a haze, but he saw the flame coursing underneath. "Do you want to go for another walk?"

"Yeah," Natsu sighed, dropping his head back into his pillow. "How much longer?"

"You have to be patient," Gray laid his hand gently over the back of Natsu's knuckles atop the white virgin hospital sheets.

"It's just so frustrating!"

"I know, but it takes time."

"I can't even walk on my own. My legs feel like jell-o."

"Do you not want to walk with me?"

"Mmph," the pink-haired firefighter rook huphed. "Alright."

Gray offered him a hand, a quick smirk tugging at how easy it was to convince his pink-haired guy. He pulled him up until Natsu jerkily moved his legs over to the side of the bed. He was rather like a newborn, the signals from his brain lost in confusion to his limbs. He sat on the edge, teetering. His upper-body swayed back and forth. "Alright," he said again, his hands balling in the white sheets.

But just as Gray was about to help him to his feet, the door opened behind his back. "Gray Fullbuster," came an irritated, frazzled voice. "Found you."

The raven haired doctor didn't even turn around to look at the company. "I'm with a patient."

"Nu-uh, you've been dodging me for three days now."

Natsu frowned over hazy sage eyes, twisting slowly on the bed to put a face to the voice. She was a tall woman, tall and thin, her long arms like twigs under the huge billowing doctor's coat she wore. Her brown hair was tight to the skull, held in place by a full cast of hair clips. It pulled up taut behind her temples into a knot which was as frayed as her eyes were annoyed.

"I can't do this right now, Silvia, don't have the time."

"Well, you are going to make the time, right now."

"Gray?" Natsu turned his confused befuddlement to his crystal blue-eyed demon.

"It's nothing, Natsu. Don't worry." The raven shook his head slowly, rolling his eyes.

"It's definitely not nothing. You have been skipping out on me every time I try and check your status. That injury isn't just going to go away. I need to know if we need to op – I need to examine it."

"Gray, what's she talking about?"

"She's just a nag. Silvia," Gray turned on the edge of the bed to look at her with his piercing blue glacial gaze. "I'm just about to go for a walk with my patient. Go bug someone else."

She crossed her thin arms over her chest, widening her stance to block the door. "The Chief of Medicine told me to examine your hand, and I'm going to do it. I'm tired of your excuses. You can play grab-ass with the pink haired guy some other time."

Gray's eyes narrowed. "Dr. Reisen, can I talk to you outside?" His voice chilled with a pointed frost. But he looked back to Natsu with a smile. "I'll be right back." He pushed past her, leaving the door open behind him as he stepped into the hallway. "We are not doing this now."

"We are."

Gray shrugged. "You do whatever you want. I am not doing this. At any minute Freed could go into shock and need op. If you have my goddamn hand cut open and I'm stuck, he's the one who's going to pay the price."

"You're not doing anyone any good by not getting yourself treated," Silvia, pushed back her thin frames up the bridge of her long beak-like nose. "You shouldn't be doing surgery at all with your hand the way it is, let alone such a complex surgery. It's beyond me why the chief even let you."

"He let me because I'm the only man for the job."

"Obviously." Her shoulders dropped as she hooked her thin branching fingers at her waist. "I never would have imagined someone could pull off a surgery like that, let alone two, with your hand. You are clearly great, but regardless, all you have is a quick stitch-job. What happens if it gets infected?" Her ambers eyes fell down to his hand, wicked black spikes splicing the skin together. "How many tendons did you tear? How much muscle? What if while you sit around being a stubborn ass, it grows back unguided and you lose use of that hand?"

Gray's tongue rolled over his bottom lip. "Look, you are a pain in the ass. I'm not going under your knife now. And that's it."

Her thin red lips crooked. "If I'm such a pain in the ass, then how about you flick me off?

Gray nodded, bringing up his left, unmarred hand. And he smiled thinly as he pushed past her again and back into Natsu's room. Rubbing at his stinging eyes, Gray sighed with the door closed at his back. But what waited for him in the room was worse. Green eyes locked onto him from the bed. For a moment, all the haze had split with golden rays of piercing light. The fire coursed and the dragon reared.

"Gray," Natsu said slowly, "even though my head is in a fog doesn't mean my ears don't work. Come here." When Gray sat on the edge of the bed at his side, Natsu gently took his boyfriend's injured hand between his. His rough thumb ran along the edge of Gray's knuckle, skating around the gaping tear stretching from between his middle and ring finger knuckles, back more than halfway to his wrist. "Gray, move your fingers."

"What are you talking about?"

"Gray," Natsu's voice was low and nearly growling with the presence of a beast. "Lift your fingers."

"Fine," Gray raised his pointer finger, aiming it at Natsu. "You need to relax."

"Gray, raise the other fingers."

"We should get going on that walk."

"Raise your other fingers," the pink-haired, concussed patient growled at his doctor. In his hand, his teeth set in what resembled a wild animal's snarl. Gray sighed, dropping his gaze to his disfigured hand. His middle finger twitched, barely raising at the joint, his ring finger shaking, attached underneath it. "How long were you going to go without getting this fixed? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because there's no need to." Gray pulled his injured hand back, wincing as the fiery pain seared up his wrist. "I can't do anything about it right now, so what's the point in bringing it up?"

"You need to get it looked at."

"I will."

"No, now."

"Don't start on me too, Natsu. Now come on, let's go for that walk."

Natsu shook his head. "Zer is going to take me. You are going to go find that Silvia woman and get your hand taken care of."

Frowning, Gray flicked his sight away from the burning emerald gaze peering into him. He balled his hand as much as he could before he felt like his skin would tear like thin overstretched paper. "Don't look at me like that."

"How am I supposed to lie here and patiently wait to come out of the fog when I know you are hurting yourself?"

"I'm the doctor."

"And I'm the patient. Well, this patient doesn't want any more help from you. Don't come back into this room until you've had your hand checked out."

Squeezing at his overtired eyes again, Gray grit his teeth. "Fine." Gray stuffed his fists into his pockets on the other side of the door. He winced again, pain lancing through his nervous system. Gingerly, he pulled out his right hand, the nasty black stitches tugging at the threads of his coat. And he walked. Down every hallway, Gray meandered through the bustling, overcrowded, hospital. He worked his jaw back and forth, irritation burning in his azure eyes.

An hour or so drifted by while Gray walked alone with his thoughts. He made it a point not to go to the second floor where he knew Silvia's station was. Instead, he dragged along through the halls. Taking back a breath, Gray felt the exhaustion weighing him down, dragging, with a ton payload. He couldn't really help the thoughts that ran through his head. Of his entire life.

Of fire.

He was a target. Either that or he was one of the unluckiest guys in the world. He had a permanent black cat walking beside him step-for-step. No, Gray thought, running his tongue over his teeth. His cat was blue. As he walked, he tore at the triangle of white bread sandwich he had pilfered from the doctor's lounge. The dry spongy 'food' mulled around his mouth.

People didn't tell him what to do. That was something new. People didn't give him ultimatums. Idiot, Natsu. Like he was in any position to say that to Gray. Let alone his doctor. What gives him the right?

Damn idiot almost got himself killed in that fire and he has the balls to lecture Gray? The burden Gray carried down the corridors was only added to by the pang that cut deep in his chest. It made it hard to move.

Freed had actually died while Gray's hands were inside of him three times. Three times his heart had stopped while he was on the operating table. Three times his breathing ceased. Damn it all to hell. Gray kicked aimlessly, scuffing the waxed floor. He was supposed to have lived the rest of his life never again getting that bond with another person. Never again getting that close.

He had Lyon. He'd known that was just setting himself up for future debilitating pain, but he couldn't let go of his brother. But he'd promised himself that there would be no one else. Never again would he have to feel that heartbreak caused by being close to someone. Gray stared out the wall of windows on the sixth floor. He looked out over the parking lot.

A frail old man got out of his car, walking painstakingly slowly around its bumper, tugging a walker with him. He brought it to the entrance of the hospital where he waddled, his back bent nearly in ninety degrees, but his hand supported his wife as they spent the next twenty minutes going the ten feet back to the car.

An ambulance pulled up to the emergency bays. A mother ran from a hastily parked car, half on the curb. Her hair splayed out behind her. Even six floors above her, Gray could see the anguish, the pure heart-wrenching pain clear as day on her face.

Why the hell did people do it? Gray held out his hand as it shook in the air. He looked at the nasty discolored skin, the disfigured set of his knuckles. Why did he do it? He'd given everything to get through that fire and get them out. He'd given everything still to keep Freed alive. He battled a fruitless battle. If he wasn't supposed to get close to anyone else, how come it ended up like this? Where he couldn't let someone go. Where, he knew as he started walking alone again, he had an entire family of people just waiting to break his heart again. He had that stupid flame-brain idiot. Damn, it all would have been so much easier if he'd never known any one of them. But just like Lyon, there was no way in hell he was letting a single one of them go.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he nearly dropped it when he read the medical update alert: Patient Freed Justine regained consciousness.

Gray sprinted to the elevator. His heart raced in his chest, the floors descending in the steel cage.

Why did he do it?

Gray crashed through the observation room door, wheezing hard for breath. And his jaw dropped when he saw Freed's blue eyes slide to him. He looked through a building blurry dam of water.

Why?

"F-r-eed." He closed the gap to the bed. Remembering himself, he wiped at his teary eyes, scrubbing them on the sleeve of his white coat. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," came back a very weak reply. But it was the strongest of lights set on the ocean's surface. Gray couldn't help the smile that overtook him.

He did it.

"You should rest then you strong, badass, son of a bitch," Gray choked, laughing. His shoulders bounced. He grabbed the edge of Freed's bed, his head hanging.

"Sounds like a good idea, doctor." His eyelids fell shut again on a dime, light breaths steady behind chapped lips.

Gray scrubbed his good palm over his mouth, squeezing down over his chin. He raked his fingers back through his raven hair. He stared at Freed. His chest hurt. He swallowed. It was so like the pain he was all too used to, but somehow it felt good. It felt right. Gray was being lifted into the air before he came back to himself. Strong, bulging arms were wrapped around him, pinning his arm to his side, squeezing the breath out of his lungs. Laxus buried his tear-strewn face in Gray's torso. He didn't have to say a word. Reaching out his torn hand, Gray laid his free arm over Laxus' shoulders, embracing him.

"So you're here."

Gray sat without a word spoken, opposite the other doctor on the second floor as she looked at him with a knowing gaze behind her thin wire-framed glasses.

!

"I heard your patient woke up."

Gray swallowed, nodding.

"Good job, doctor." Her tone soothed out, "can I see your hand?" She took his between hers when he offered it. "I'm going to do a local anesthetic but you sure you don't want painkillers?"

Shaking his head slowly, Gray closed his eyes. "He's awake, but I still need to be ready. Just in case."

"It's going to hurt like hell."

Gray smirked. "I've had worse."

!

A couple hours later, Gray wobbled into Natsu's room. His face was white as snow, but his blue eyes remained clear. Holding up his hand, thickly bandaged in white gauze wrapped from his wrist up to his knuckles, Gray looked deep into the burning green eyes which looked back into himself. Deeper than anything Gray knew. Natsu held up the hospital's sandstone colored blankets, scooting over. As he dropped them over Gray's shoulder, he wrapped his arm around him. And he held him tight.

* * *

Next Chapter: What the Future Holds


	19. What the Future Holds

A/N: Sorry for being so sporadic in my updates. All I can say is it's probably going to get worse...

My editor is pushing me to get going on my book - and I kind of admitted to her that I ran into serious block and can't figure out what I want to do on it. Well, she's determined to take it in the unfinished state it is in and bounce ideas back and forth to finish it up.

So long story short, the majority of my writing energy is going into that project.

I won't forget about these stories, though, don't worry. (Though I'll stop mentioning them to my editor...every time I do she just gives me this look like 'are you freaking kidding me - you're working on writing something else!? Finish this damn book before you write something else!') Haha.

Well, when all is said and done, I hope to be publishing within probably two months or so - sorry, keeps getting pushed back - and I'll be working on here for you guys when I get the chance!

Lots of love.  
-James

* * *

Chapter 19: What the Future Holds

"Holy crap."

Gray chuckled, swiping the sprayed food off of his sleeve. He was laying in a hospital bed, his arm wrapped around Natsu. A bowl of chips balanced on the thin virgin sheet. "Well that was attractive." The partially chewed - wet - glops of food fell onto the sterile blue floor.

"Mmm," Natsu glanced down to Gray during the changeover. "Sorry."

Running his thumb along Natsu's cheek, he lost himself in that burning green dragon's gaze. "You are so damn cute." And he got the added benefit of seeing the rosy scarlet blume across the pink haired man's cheeks. So damn cute. Closing his eyes, he connected their hearts with a soft, needing embrace.

Natsu hummed blissfully. Gray's lips tugged up. He could feel the quickening beat of the dragon's heart under his palm. It did things to his that he couldn't begin to describe. Pulling back, Gray smiled so easily. And he opened his eyes to find the dragon staring with his beautiful eyes directly into his soul.

That was the way Gray had come to think about that pink haired firefighter. Too powerful. Too beautiful. Too damn amazing to be human. Natsu was a modern day dragon incarnate. His dragon.

"Gray, they're about to start."

"It's Nadal's serve, I have thirty more seconds to look at you." Gray couldn't help but laugh at himself. How far off the deep end had he gone? Natsu's plump red lips quirked. Gray's heart tripped. How long had he been with Natsu? A couple weeks? A little over a month now? The dimmed overhead lights shone pearlescent over smooth tanned skin. It glowed, highlighting strong angled cheekbones. Hell, he was far gone. But what did it matter? He stole a quick kiss again, wanting it, needing it, before laying back into the bed contented.

On the hospital's flat screen in the corner of the room, a tennis ball sped as a lightning's crack across a royal blue court. It was a strange world, Gray thought absently, watching the two players on screen trade blow after devastating blow with the power of a boxer and the finesse of figure skaters. There they were, the two best tennis players of all time matched up for close to the fiftieth time. In their mid thirties, tennis' greatest rivals still moved with the stamina of youth. The world said it impossible.

Injuries abounded, the world said they would never see those two at their best again. And yet, there Gray laid, wrapped as one with the fiery man who constantly squeezed his heart, watching as the two pushed themselves into a fifth set at the Australian Open championships. He glanced at Natsu, snuggling against his collar.

It was a very strange world.

But it was an amazing one.

Natsu buzzed with excitement as the final shot skimmed a sideline. His green eyes widened, breath cutting off to a void. His hand clenched. A shot review screen tracked the ball to its edge. It just kissed the white paint.

"Oh my gods. I. Can't. Friggin. Believe. It!" He grabbed Gray roughly, squeezing him as a mighty boa on prey.

Gray smiled easily despite the lack of breath. He hadn't really caught his breath since he'd fallen because of Natsu anyway, so what did it matter?

"Gray, when do you think we could hit again? I want to play with you." The corner of his red lips tugged with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

The raven haired doctor's brow quirked. How could a guy so easily combine the begging sweetness of an excited puppy with the sultry lust that burned in pure need? He felt under the sun's pulse captured beneath emerald flames. "No strenuous physical activity."

Almost immediately, Natsu's grin fell with a pout. The quick innocence tugged a line around Gray's heart. Even that. Even his small beautiful purely emotional nature. He showed everything he was. He knew not he meaning of appearance . Gray shook his head a grin pulling at his lips.

"Ahh, come on. I'm better already!"

Closing his eyes, he gently took Natsu's lips. The world outside could have ceased. Life could have ended. But right then. Right there. Was all he'd ever wanted.

Opening his eyes slowly to be swallowed in the intensity of pure green starlight, Gray felt what divinity meant. It wasn't some god. It wasn't scripture. There was no heaven above. Because it was right there in front of his nose. As it always was, if he'd only known to look. "I said no strenuous activity."

"Over cautious cowa-"

"But you are right. You are getting better." Gray sat up, resting on a palm among the white cottony clouds. "Too good to be sitting here and taking up valuable hospital bed space."

Natsu perked up, his eyes shining. He smiled inexplicably wide. "I can go home?"

Taking in a long breath, Gray shrugged. "See but here's the problem. You're such a flame brain that if I sent you home you would end up doing something stupid like a hand stand or something and you'd get yourself hurt again."

"Ahh, come on."

"What am I supposed to do?" Gray play-acted, 'thinking' long and hard. His icy blue eyes shifted to the lights overhead. "What to do..what to do.."

"Do you not trust me?"

"Mmm. I'd feel better if I could keep an eye on you."

"Come on, Gray. This is ridiculous! You're a nag! I'll be fi-"

The raven's shoulders dropped. He rocked his head slowly, as if submitting to the inevitable. "I guess there's nothing else to do. You'll have to move into my room."

"Nag!" Natsu blinked. He frowned. "Wait. What?"

Scratching his head non-chalantly, Gray just looked at the plain hospital ceiling above him. "Have to keep and eye on you to make sure you are getting the rest you need. No other way to do that. Well, I guess I could check on you in your room. But, see, that's such a pain. I'd have to walk all the way down the hall. Knock. You'd have to get up out of bed - which kind of defeats the purpose. Then I have to walk alllll the way back to my room."

"Gray."

"And then there's the nights. I'd have to keep coming to check on you while you sleep. Opening the door. End up waking you up. That's unacceptable."

"Gray."

"Plus there's rehab to consider. And there's also the fact that I've gotten accustomed to sleeping next to you. Wouldn't be able to sleep without your horrible snoring. And that wouldn't be good for my patients."

"Gray! Stop talking!"

The doctor's blue eyes dropped from the ceiling to the burning green plains of his patient, a smirk evident of his lips. "What?"

"Gray, are you being serious?

"Do I not sound serious?"

"Bastard." He bound Gray in his strong arms again.

"Well?"

"Of course, you idiot!"

"Good." Gray said easily, trailing his fingers through the tangled mess of Natsu's silky pink bed hair. He smiled easily, tucking his chin over the pink mess. Spending his life trying not to let anyone close - it was the only the solution - to protect those he loved he had to keep them closer than ever. Gray hummed, enjoying the warmth of Natsu's squeezing embrace. He loved the strength - the hard stone of Natsu's chiseled body. He even loved the fire.

* * *

"So, what have you been up to?"

Laxus' lips quirked a touch under the ghostly pallor of his skin. He rubbed his large thumb gently over Freed's knuckles. He couldn't quite bring himself to let go of that hand. "Well, you know, while someone was slacking off, sleeping all day," Laxus coughed, his chest giving out for a hummingbird's beat. He shook his head slowly, "someone had to move ahead with the wedding planning."

"Heh," Freed smiled easily. "You know how I like to get out of work."

"I ordered coconut icing."

Freed's nose wrinkled. "Man, this is what happens when I leave you in charge. You know no one likes coconut."

"What are you talking about, everyone likes coconut. You just don't because you are weird."

"I must be. To think I'd be getting hitched to someone who likes coconut. The sheer thought of that . . . I'll ask Gray to have me admitted into the psych ward. Did you at least order the stuffed mushrooms from the caterer?"

This time Laxus' face soured as if he'd taken an acrid shot at the bar. "You really should get your head checked out. Mushrooms..."

"They are delicious."

"They are decomposers."

The battered green-haired Fairy Tail prince stuck his tongue out at his hulking fiancé. "Still delicious."

"They feed on dead things!"

"Deeeeeeelice!"

"So gross!"

"Order them."

"No way in hell. Do you want people to be sick at our wedding?"

"The coconut will have that covered."

"They'll be sick because they ate too much delicious coconut."

"Order the mushrooms."

"Make me." Laxus stared with lightning blue eyes at his man. Where once was a fierce gaze with the danger of a rolling storm, there was now a silent subdued calm.

Freed smirked, curling his fingers with Laxus using the little strength he had gained in the last couple of days. And he looked deep into the blond's blue eyes. His set grew seriously quiet. His lips softly parted. "I love you."

Sitting back, Laxus scrubbed his large paw against the back of his short spiky bold hair. "Damn it, that's not playing fair. Fine, I'll order the mushrooms."

The green haired princeling beamed cheekily. "I win."

Scoffing, Laxus shook his head. "I still want coconut."

"We are having coconut?" Gray cocked his head, smiling easier than he ever had as he walked into the hospital room.

* * *

Stretching on the other side of Natsu's door, Gray placed his palm at the back his neck, rolling it under a groan. There was a kink in there that wasn't about to go away, but such was the price you pay for snuggling in a single hospital bed to watch a tennis match. Taking in a deep breath, he couldn't tame the wide grin tugging his lips. He hadn't felt this good since childhood. Since he was too small to know the weight of the world.

He nearly bounced with each step he took down the hall. When was the last time he felt so light, he wondered, stuffing his hands into his white doctor coat's pockets. His first thought had been of childhood, but to be honest he couldn't remember much of it.

For some reason - the last few days - with the riptide that had opened under their feet, it had made him think back through that long twisted path to today. He thought of his mom. Pausing in the hallway, Gray glanced out of the window. Sometimes, he thought, it was like a passing daydream. He couldn't quite recall her face. He couldn't quite remember how she smiled at him, lifting him up in her arms when he'd come running in from the yard covered in mud. But he knew the warmth.

It was that warmth.

He remembered the darkness so clearly - all its wicked tendrils of fire and acrid smoke. But it wasn't the heat of those flames that laid in his heart. There was only that splitting beam of light from the enveloping, welcoming warmth.

Continuing down the hallway, Gray stared up at the ceiling. "What do you think, mom? Ur? Would you be proud of me today?" He shook his head at himself with a small smile cresting his lips. He was definitely in a weird mood today.

Gray opened the door into Freed's room.

"-ll want coconut."

"We are having coconut?" Gray rose a brow, sidling past the wheeled tower that supported a flat screen computer monitor. "Sweet. I want some."

"See, people like coconut!" Laxus nodded to their raven-haired friend and brother.

"Uff. Gray you're so not helping the cause."

"You want me to leave?"

"Depends," Freed gave Gray a simple smile, but it filled the doctor with striking power of elation. "How do you feel about stuffed mushrooms?"

"Also delicious."

Letting out a light sigh, Freed shrugged against the medieval rack of a medical bed. "Okay, you can stay."

Nodding to the side, Gray rolled his tongue inside his lip. "Thanks." He walked over to the bed, gently sitting halfway on its edge. He looked at his friend, stitches lining his brow to his temple. His normally pearly fair skin was a mottled mess of black and blue. Though, it had been lightening some.

A long line of surgical stitches stuck out as angry black spiders down below his jaw to meet his pulled and torn lip which hung just as a gash tugged under an eye. Part of his hairline was stretched back with deep gouge cut into his scalp. There was no way he'd go back to the angel look he had before that day - but seeing the way Laxus looked at him - it wasn't a cause for concern.

"How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good." He pointed at the IV dripping with enough pain killer to down a horse. Honestly, it was amazing that he could hold up a conversation. If Gray had that amount of drugs in his system, he wasn't sure if he'd have known the difference between this room and the swirling cottony clouds he'd be drifting in, floating in bliss. "This stuff is amazing. Any chance I can get this once I leave."

"Mmm. You faker. It was all a facade to get the drugs, wasn't it?"

"You caught me."

"The nerve of some people. And I'm guessing you roped Laxus into this ploy of yours?"

"He does what I want." Freed winked at his boyfriend. "We'll be having mushrooms, right?"

"Like I could say no."

Gray laid his hand over Freed's leg under the hospital blanket. His eyes narrowed for a brief second at the sudden look the Fairy Tail prince gave him. But they both quickly hid them behind frozen masks. "Anything you want to talk to me about?"

Freed shrugged, glancing at the far wall. "Not really," his voice had a trace of distance. He coughed. "Mmm. Throat's dry. Laxus, do you think you could get me some water?"

The muscular blond tree stood, giving his partner a knowing look. "Yeah." And he walked out to leave the patient and doctor alone.

Gray didn't need to ask. He just sat there. Waiting.

Freed looked at the closed door for a while before turning his attention back to the raven. "Gray, is it normal that I can't feel my legs?"

Whether it was Gray's silence or the way his icy blue eyes wouldn't meet Freed's, the green haired firefighter got his answer. "I see." He let out a long, heavy sigh.

"It's still early," Gray said for both of them. He squeezed Freed's leg a little. "You have a lot of pain killers in you, they could -"

"I can feel everything else. My head. My arms. My chest. I can't..."

"Can you move your foot? Wiggle a toe for me."

The princeling shook his head as much as the iron spinal support rods would allow. "What am I looking at here, Gray?"

"It's still too early - just rest and -"

"Gray, just tell me. I can handle it."

"You had some pretty serious spine damage."

"So I'm not going to be able to walk again?"

"We'll worry about that later, Freed. Right now, I'm just happy you are awake. We'll go one step at a time."

"What if I can't take that step?"

Gray's brows fell hard over steely blue eyes. His friendly tone cut away with commanding seriousness. "Listen to me, Freed. There is a chance you may not be able to walk on your own again." A large chance - really the smallest of chances he'd ever stand straight again. "But we are going to do everything we can. We are going to do rehab once you are strong enough. And even if we can't . . . You can still live a full -"

"Gray, stop. It's okay. Really. Seeing Laxus healthy is enough for me. If I'm never able to stand up again, then that's just the price I pay for it."

"I know I can't stop you - and it's honestly impossible - but I don't want you to think about that right now. I just want you to rest. Right now, it doesn't even matter because I can't have you running around and hurting yourself. All you need to do is lie still and let us take care of you."

"Mmm. I don't like being taken care of."

"Just shut up and take it. You deserve it."

Freed lay silent for a while, staring alone with his thoughts at the ceiling above. But finally he drifted back into his own head again, shifting his eyes to look at Gray again. "How's Natsu doing?"

"Natsu?" Gray tilted his head, the faint smile on his lips betraying his lighter heart. "He's good. Biting at the bit to get out of here - going to be discharged tonight. But why Natsu?"

"Come on. I see you guys."

"That obvious?"

"You know Natsu, subtly isn't exactly his forte."

He squeezed Freed's leg harder while he let out a single chuckle. "No he isn't at that." Here he was, just after telling this man that he may never walk again and he was joking about Gray's relationship? Just how strong was this frail looking man?

Stronger than Gray, he knew. Every day checking in on Freed, Gray was given a first hand reminder of how iron a man could be. It set the bar incredibly high.

"As I understand it, I have Natsu to thank for me being alive right now."

"Eh?"

"I heard you rushed into the building to save him."

"I -"

The good side of Freed's lips winged up. "Don't apologize. There are things I would do for Laxus that I'd never do for anyone else." He raised his hand a little, dropping it back to the virgin sheets with a huph. "Case and point. But I'm grateful. Even if I never walk again . . . I'm grateful. I may not be able to stand at my wedding but I'll be there because of you, Gray. Thank you."

"Don't thank me." Gray shook his head, tears welling in his wavering blue eyes. "Just get better. That's all I want."

"Gray, I have a question for you." He bit the corner of the unmarred side of his lips, "Erm. No, I'll wait for Laxus."

He gave Freed a look, but said nothing. "Is there anything else you want to tell me? Any pain? Your breathing okay? Anything unusual?"

"I'm fine."

"Good. I'll be back tomorrow to check in on you."

"Thanks, doc."

"Anything you need?"

"Mmm. Just find my fiancé for me. He's been gone a while."

"No problem. Get some sleep." Gray stood, patting Freed's forearm as he left. Damn. That bar was out of reach from the ground where Gray stood now.

He found the wayward fiancé at a water fountain. Gray frowned. The hulking man just stood there as if the world was moving around him but paid no heed. Frozen in the middle of the wake. He placed a hand one the blond's massive shoulders. "You okay there, Laxus?"

"I-I'm just trying to decide if Freed would want ice or not."

For fifteen minutes?

"Laxus."

"We were joking about the wedding." Gray knew his role and stayed silently. Laxus looked down at the styrofoam cup in his large mitts. His rough thumbs traced over the white lip. "It . . . almost didn't happen." His nail dug a thin line into the styrofoam hide.

"There's no almost, Laxus."

"It's all," Laxus spoke with the speed of a glacial shift, "just . . . I thought I'd be all better when he woke up. But I just feel . . ."

"Laxus," Gray spoke gently both as a doctor and a friend. "He's waiting on his water. Go back. " He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets, silently watching Laxus' back as he walked away.

Love.

It made heroes of the normal. And crumbled the strongest to rubble.

Was it a curse? Was it a blessing?

Gray didn't know. And quite frankly, he gave up trying to figure it out. What good was there in questioning his heart, when there was no denying its beat?

And the day passed by as was its way under the everessence of thrumming fluorescent hospital lights. Gray made his way from Freed to Julia and Lyon. Love, it seemed had stricken a deep chord inside the intimate part of Gray's life. He couldn't honestly believe how hard those two had fallen. He couldn't believe that Julia was no longer waiting around the corner for him. She still loved Gray - of that much he was sure - but there was a connection with Lyon that was undeniable.

Every day it got easier. More normal. He'd eased into understanding them together just as he'd eased into his role as a doctor. It didn't really faze him now, as he walked down the bustling corridors wearing his white coat. He'd avoided it in the past because he was set on being a paramedic, but he couldn't deny it felt good to walk those halls. Maybe it was time.

To make it through with Freed.

It felt good.

His blue pen scrawled his signature across the bottom of a form. And he nodded to himself. Natsu was now set to be discharged that night. Just a few hours.

How would his life change in the coming months? He slumped down in a chair in the lounge, staring at the buzzing lights above. Musica had said Gray had changed, and he could feel it. Everything was different. As if the world seemed to spin just a touch more on axis. As if the days were just slightly brighter.

The biggest change was yet to come of course, Gray thought absently, letting his mind wonder to the unflappable bond between the lightning god and his green haired prince. There was a point where it ceased becoming Laxus and Freed. It just became them. From two to one.

Was that where he was headed? Was Gray headed downtown road of 'us'?

Regardless, when he walked into Natsu's room later that night and the pink haired man greeted him with a giant squeezing hug, Gray glanced at the duffel in his guy's hand and knew what he wanted today. "You ready?" The raven smiled so easily, rubbing Natsu's forearms slowly. He looked deep into the fiery emerald green eyes swallowing him whole.

"You bet!" Natsu stepped to Gray's side, sliding his hand down to take his. And he gave Gray the biggest of toothy smiles, closing his eyes as his white fangs shone. Together they walked out of the hospital and to the tomorrow that lay beyond.

"You know, I've never ridden in your truck," Natsu mentioned as he slid his palm over the leather seats. "Nice."

Gray smirked at him, turning the key and setting the roaring engine to life. It rumbled as a behemoth. The cool midnight blue Dodge Ram roared down out of the parking lot and onto the dark streets.

"You sure about this?"

"What?"

Running the pad of his pointer finger along the black leather hand rest, Natsu mumbled, "me moving in with you. I mean -"

Gray cut off his boyfriend with his lips. He stared for way too long at Natsu's beautiful enrapturing face. "You're so cute."

"Gray, gods! The road!" He jammed his palm onto the roof of the truck, bracing himself tense in the seat.

Gray grinned foolishly, turning back to the road just in time to swerve around a turning car. The truck rumbled just past the car's rear bumper.

"Gods, pay attention!"

"I am." Gray said in a low tenor, glancing at Natsu with a starry blue look that set the pink man's body on fire.

His cheeks burning a mottled pink, Natsu let out a breath and forcefully broke their eyeline. He stared out the window at the adding world. "Zeref's going to be surprised. He was out on calls all day, didn't get a chance to tell him that I was coming home."

"Mmm," Gray hummed, pulling his truck into the back lot behind the sleeping fire station. He grabbed their duffels, swinging them over the side of the bed. And Natsu took his hand again. Gray smiled. This guy. Was he going to hold his hand everywhere?

Not that he was complaining.

Sliding his key into his door, Gray welcomed his future in. "Welcome home, Natsu."

Laughing a sweet, light laugh Natsu fished his hands around Gray's hips. He pulled them together. And he kissed him so deeply, until the bags fell listless out of Gray's hand. Pulling back, he dove into Gray's glacial blue eyes.

His reddened lips winging up, he whispered, "I'm home."

* * *

Next Chapter: A Determined Dragon


	20. A Determined Dragon

Disclaimer: I do not own any right to Fairy Tail or Ravemaster, nor its characters. They are the sole property of their creator, Hiro Mashima, and publisher. I do not own any right to the intellectual property of D. Grayman. The following story is meant for entertainment purposes only and neither I, the author, nor the forums in which this story is posted expect to or will receive any monetary compensation. Support the original work.

* * *

Chapter 20: A Determined Dragon

Running his thumbs along the cool glass between his palms, Gray dragged his tongue inside his cheek, bulging out his lips. He tapped the glass, filled with a frothy amber beer, in a random distracted cadence.

He glanced to each corner of the room. Everyone, it seemed, chose to give them a wide berth. So much so that the Fairy Tail cafeteria was packed, firefighters pressed shoulder to shoulder huddled over their food. Every table except those circumferencing where he sat. Gray clicked his tongue. Twice he made eye contact with someone in the crowd only for their stare to quickly dart away.

Across from him, Gajeel sat hulled over his drink, staring drilling holes through the glass. Gray couldn't blame the rest of Fairy Tail, he himself had gotten a shock as a bucket of ice cold water thrown in his face. When he had stepped through the back door, Gajeel was there. Leaning on a near wall, the decade-forgotten grunge rocker had waited for Gray.

He had grunted at Gray. And what possessed him he didn't know, but Gray ended up following that hulking metal studded firefighter. They'd been sitting for twenty minutes, silently. The awkward air had permeated the cafeteria around them until it was thick enough to push everyone away.

So the two sat in a bubble in the center of the normally vibrant and raucous Fairy Tail Fire Station. Gray nursed his drink, sipping the lightest touch of the golden liquid past his lips. His tongue snaked out over the moisture. He took in a long breath, finally daring to break the wartorn calm. "Okay. I've got to be getting to Natsu." He put his palms on the flat of the tabletop, pushing himself standing.

"You shouldn't have been suspended."

The raven haired doctor blinked. He shook his head, before his eyes narrowed. He inspected every rugged, nearly metal jagged face of the man across from him. Was that really Gajeel? "Huh?"

"You stepped up . . . I just wanted to say . . ." Gajeel threw back his beer, upending the glass into his gullet. "Fuck it." He grumbled, shoving himself from the table and stalking away. But before he lumbered out of the cafeteria, he stopped in his tracks. Under his breath, he nearly growled, "you did good," before disappearing in the station.

Scratching the side of his head, Gray just stared at the empty entrance way. "Huh." Murmurs pitter-pattered through the cafeteria in excited hushed voices. His head was still spinning a little when he made it back to his room. The whole, 'Gajeel complimenting him' thing did not quite fit into the folder - even trying to jam it in.

"Welcome home."

However all those thoughts instantly washed out of Gray's mind. He smiled easily, seeing the pink haired firefighter laying in his bed. He was propped up on a mountain of pillows at his back. Over the comforter, his laptop sat on his lap.

Burning emerald eyes locked onto him over the laptop's edge, just above simmering, waiting red lips.

Even though he had done so every day that week, Gray made straight for the waiting dragon. He met his lips and let himself drift along the starry sea that kissing that dragon was. It was a mythical experience Gray was sure he would never get used to. He pulled back, slowly opening his eyes. The tingle that he had become oh so familiar with, jolted through his frame. His heart pumped fresh burning blood through his veins.

"Mmm. You were drinking." Natsu skated his tongue over his reddened lips. Gray gulped. Did that damn guy know how hot he was? Did he do all those little things to drive Gray out of his mind?

The way his eyes sparkled whenever Gray looked at him . . . The soft sighs that escaped his lips when they lay in each other's arms at night watching whatever TV drama happened to be on that night . . . The way he sometimes whimpered in his sleep.

An unbidden smile spread Gray's face. He honestly didn't know if his head, let alone his heart, could take much more. It was something he hadn't quite considered when he'd asked Natsu to move in with him. He had known he needed to be close to Natsu for both their sakes. He needed to protect Natsu from himself, as his doctor. Though, Gray took a shaky breath, clenching his fingernails digging a biting grip into the pads of his palm - he hadn't thought about how hard it would be to restrain himself from taking Natsu every single minute they shared alone in that room together.

Kicking off his shoes, he sat at the bed's head, snaking an arm around Natsu's shoulders. "How has your day been?"

"Good." The pink haired firefighter sighed. He leaned back onto Gray, rolling his neck over the raven's forearm. His eyes rolled up to look at him. "Bored. Can I please go to the gym or something? I've got all this pent up energy."

"No gym."

"Come on, I've been good. Barely gotten out of bed - only to go for some mild walks outside - for the whole week, just like you said!"

"Good."

"I'm going to get fat!"

"Hmm." Gray laughed softly, dropping a hand down Natsu's side to fish up under his loose black cotton t-shirt. He grabbed at Natsu's waist. Like he could barely get a hold of the pure rock muscle - the guy had to have close to zero-percent body fat. Which, considering how the dragon ate, was an astounding feat. But still, he laughed. "I see."

"That's not funny!" Natsu jerked away from Gray's touch, tugging the hem of his shirt back down.

"Hmmm. I wonder what a fat Natsu would look like."

"Shuddup. It's not fair," he pouted, sulking. "You get to go out and continue being all perfect and I'm stuck here getting fat."

"Perfect?" Gray cocked a brow. That was a word he could pretty definitively say he had never heard in reference to himself. "Natsu, it's been a week and a half since you worked out. And the last time you exerted yourself you ended up catching an entire floor on your forehead."

"You're going to lose . . ." Natsu grumbled, his voice dying away in his sulk.

"I'm going to lose?" Gray ran his thumb over Natsu's hot, smooth tan skin.

"I'm going to gain weight and you're not ever going to want to have sex with me!" They both blinked. They stared silently at each other, neither expecting Natsu's sudden outburst. The fire dragon's cheeks burned with a pink flash fire. His abashed eyes darted to the blanket.

"One week."

"Huh?" Natsu dared to scan back up to Gray's crystal, piercing eyes.

"One week." Gray's jaw rolled in knots. His blue eyes were shimmering with a burning need. "It should really be two or three weeks from now. As your doctor that's what it should be. But I'm not going to be able to last that long."

"You want to do it!"

"Idiot." Gray mumbled, covering his face with a palm. He felt the inferno burning at his cheeks. "I'm not talking about this." Of course he wanted to . . . How thick was that dragon's skull?

"Prude!"

He couldn't even look at Natsu. The excitement. He nearly bounced. The fact that the blanket was falling down his frame, exposing tan smooth skin, taut over marble-cut muscles . . . well it didn't help the holding back end of things. Gray let out a sigh, not knowing how it all had gotten so complicated.

Natsu leaned back into him, nestling against his cheek. Or so easy. Gray smiled. He glanced down at the paused computer screen, trying anything to get his mind on something else. "What were you watching?"

"Mmm. It's an anime I found online." Under his chin, Gray felt his pink-haired guy perk up. Excitement radiated from him just as his lips struggled to keep up with his words.

"It's really good! There's this girl. She's the main character. Well sort of. I mean it's more of a story about all of these people. They are kind of like this crazy mixed up group of people that are like a family. And they all have magical abilities.

"Like, this main character. He's friggin just a badass, by the way, he creates fire. Eats it too. Total bad ass. And then there's this guy, who's like that fire guy's best friend. And he uses ice. It's pretty funny, you know, fire and ice."

Gray's eye twitched.

"The ice guy likes taking off all his clothes all the time - no matter where he is - just strips. Heh, that's kinda like you, Gray. He's super cute too." Natsu pointed at the screen. It happened to be frozen with the pair of opposite, brow to brow, magic flying around them in a flurry. "They act like they can't stand each other, but I bet you anything, that by the end they are going to end up together."

"Natsu . . ." Gray sighed heavily. He gently closed the computer, setting it aside on his bedside table. "You're going to break the fourth wall."

"What are you talking about?"

Gray eyed his surroundings, sure that it was all just going to dissolve away from the paradox rending collision of world's. "Iiiiii think it's best if you don't watch that anime anymore."

"Why not," Natsu frowned, shifting so he could look Gray in the eye. "It's really good."

"Yeah, I know, but . . ." Gray bit his lip eyeing the wall he was sure was about to be torn away in a gravity whirlpool. "Let's just leave that fourth wall intact."

"You're really weird."

"Yeah, well you're my boyfriend, so how weird does that make you?"

"Very. But so damn lucky," Natsu twisted onto his belly on top of Gray. He smiled easily, pulling Gray down to him to gently take his lips.

Between them, the blankets ruffled. A ball twisted under the sheets, yeowling. The blanket quivered, writhing in a fury of limbs. Gray stared at the animated sheets, blowing out a breath through his nose.

"Again?"

"He likes me."

"Yeah, a little too much," Gray grunted. He fished his hands underneath the blanket and wrangled free the writhing midnight blue furred cat. In response, the cat stared him dead in the eyes, before its whisker tipped lips curled back in a hiss.

"Yeah, well deal with it. Natsu's mine." He pulled the cat closer, holding him by the scruff between the shoulders. They were nose to nose. "And before you forget it, so are you!" He reached over the bed, placing the cat on the ground.

"I think Happy's more my cat than yours now, Gray." To affirm his point, there was a twisting ball under the blankets again within a few seconds. It stumbled its way up to Natsu's stomach where the blankets wrapped with Happy's frame as it curled in a ball on top of his abs.

"Stupid cat," Gray grumbled, eyeing the still lump under the blanket. Honestly, he didn't know what irked him more. The fact that his cat, one of his best friends, had chosen someone else over him . . . or the man that Happy had deigned to choose. Was he jealous of a cat?

"You better not steal him." Which one he was talking to, Gray didn't know.

"Mmm. We'll see. We spend all day talking about you. I think we understand each other better than you ever could!" Natsu couldn't help the smile winging his lips as he teased his raven haired guy. The guy, who had stripped out of his shirt and pants before Natsu had even realized it.

The dragon's teasing smirk had curved into a devilish grin. Careful not to jostle the lump on his stomach - though it severely impeded his movement - Natsu snaked out a hand to run teasingly over the svelte, pale body. His teeth shone under simmering eyes as he felt the shiver run down Gray's body. He saw the jolt that his touch on his man's naked side brought to him.

"N-Natsu, seriously! One week!" Gray shuddered as the burning fingers trailed down the etched line of his lower abs. They teased, dancingly down the v. Until they met his boxer briefs' waistband.

"Well, what am I supposed to do when you keep taking off your clothes around me? That's just cruel, doctor."

Gripping Natsu's wrist with a faint, half-hearted strength, Gray gulped as he pulled those burning fingers from his skin. Every night, Natsu had been getting more and more bolden. Whether it was the way he teased Gray, making sure just enough of his magnificent body was visible to provide a needing lust seeded deep in Gray's blood. Or, the further and further advances, the pink-haired man was taking.

Gray grit his teeth. He honestly didn't think he was going to make it a week. Staying in the same room, sleeping pressed against every perfect curve of Natsu's body - a downy feather could have pushed Gray over the edge.

They had watched a movie that night, curled up on Gray's bed. What movie, Gray honestly couldn't have told you. His mind was spinning in a vortex throughout the entire romance comedy. His guy had settled in, resting his head against Gray's shoulder. Hot breaths tickled down Gray's chest.

It was painful. Painful heaven.

When the movie had flicked off, Natsu didn't say a single word as he wrapped his strong, corded arms around Gray's waist. He settled in behind Gray, pulling him tight, holding him. It was only a matter of seconds before Gray heard the raucous snoring that attested to Natsu's presence as a dragon.

Gray, well, he had a much harder time falling asleep that night.

* * *

When Natsu woke, he creaked a window into a haze of morning. His eyes barely parted, his surroundings dwarfing him in a momentary encompassing confusion. He frowned, groggily. Had he been buried in Smurfs? He couldn't breath.

Shooting up a hand, he snatched a fistful of fur and lifted the cat off his face. "You really gotta find another place to sleep, Happy." He set the cat down on the sheets, twisting and reaching out over the empty bed next to him. He didn't hide a single ounce of his disappointment. He sighed heavily.

There was a note on the bedside table.

There was always a note.

"Being a doctor really sucks, Happy." Natsu stared at the ceiling. He dragged up the bedspread, tucking it under his nose. He took a long scent of Gray's crushed pine smell. "It's not fair. I'm all cooped up in here. The least he could do is wait for me to wake up."

But, Natsu was proud of him. The head of the hospital where Gray had doctored him back to health had asked Gray to continue on. At first, the raven haired paramedic had been reluctant, but Natsu gave him as many gentle shoves as he could. There was something about the look in Gray's eyes since he'd donned the white doctor's coat.

Natsu knew that look. It was a purpose. It was the same shine he had seen in his father's eyes every time he'd shrug on his firefighter jacket. Gray belonged at the hospital. Healing. Plus, Natsu got an extra kick out of telling people his boyfriend was a doctor.

He took another long sniff of the wintery smell in the blanket. How a guy could spend his life in a fire station, with all the smoke and ash, and still come out smelling like winter, Natsu would never know. But it filled him with the warmth of a warm hearth, spiced cider, and loving arms, in the middle of a snow laden town.

He couldn't wait for winter, Natsu realized. He grinned. He'd rent a cabin just for the two of them. And they'd spend a weekend snuggled up in front of the fire.

Happy meowed, stretching out his paws and kneading the sheets.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll make sure it's a place that allows pets." He scrubbed his palm between Happy's perked ears, roughly tousling the magical blue fur.

Winter, huh? Natsu swung his legs over the side of the bed. Slowly, he carefully stood to his full height. He teetered a little, still unsure of how to balance on his own two feet. But it was getting better. First, he'd walk around the Fairy Tail Station grounds.

Fishing his feet through a pair of shorts, the ground suddenly seesawing, tilting as the bow of a dingy on the raging waves of a Poseidon ravaged sea. He fell back onto the corner of the bed. Blinking. Confused. His white fangs clenched together, fingers curling into fists over his knees.

He was so gods damned sick of this. How long would it take until he could just stand up without the world upending? Happy wove around his side and Natsu rubbed his head habitually.

He forced himself to his feet again, taking a resolute breath, until the room around stopped spinning.

And he started what had become his daily routine. Funny, how in such a short time, all of it would be so normal. Sleeping in Gray's bed. Waking up with his cat. Being alone in his now boyfriend's room.

The first thing he did was shuffle slowly over to the bedside table. Aside from their first morning together, every day since had started this way. A paper on the nightstand was his morning companion. But. Natsu sighed as he read the quickly scrawled note.

He did love that handwriting. And the fact that Gray always made sure to leave him a note was enough. It seemed crazy to him how good it felt just to be on someone's mind like that. To have someone who always thought about him. Plus, the damn guy had been getting cuter and cuter every morning.

Natsu couldn't help but smile at the little heart sitting in blue ink at the end of Gray's message. He placed the note safely with the others he was saving.

His chest felt so damn full. Every breath was an unsurity - whether anything more could fit in there, Natsu was dubious.

Who knew.

Natsu shook his head at himself.

He'd do something nice for Gray that night, Natsu decided, stretching his arms behind his back until his bulging shoulders popped.

Maybe a nice dinner. He couldn't cook for a damn, but he could convince Jeryy, the station's cook. Some candles. A nice bottle of wine.

. . . Not that Gray would let him drink . . .

But . . . Natsu's lips grew wolfish. All the better. If Gray was the only one drinking all Natsu had to do was keep filling up that glass until his raven haired beau forgot his doctorly duties.

As Natsu slipped a t-shirt over his bedhead, he was humming merrily to himself. "Alright, Happy. First things, first. Let's figure out where he could set this up." He didn't very well want to do it in Gray's room. At the very least, Natsu just wanted to get out of the station for a little while.

But, Natsu pursed his lips. At the same time, it wasn't like he could go drive somewhere or hike anyplace. Even if he could, he knew Gray well enough to know that the raven's worry would have defeated the whole purpose anyway.

His sage green eyes scanned to Happy, curled up and in his own ruled world atop the disheveled blankets. "What do you think about a night picnic? Cliche?"

Happy licked his paw, otherwise utterly ambivalent.

"Thanks, you're a lot of help."

The midnight blue cat's jaw opened in a yawn, before giving the tiniest of meows.

"Hmph." Hooking his hands at his hips, Natsu bit his lip as he stared off. It would be cliche as hell. But at the same time, he so badly wanted it. Wanted Gray, out under the stars. Wanted candles. Soft music. And a warm blanket.

Cliche wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Cracking his neck, Natsu nodded. Food first.

Convincing Jeryy turned out to be just about as strenuous as Natsu imagine. When he walked in and asked for a romantic picnic dinner, Jeryy all but gushed, squeezing Natsu for all he was worth. He picked Natsu up into the air, a teary eyed joyous smile the beauty of the world. Anything for Natsu. Jeryy had set about right away, dancing around his kitchen. He'd stop every few turns to think of the menu, then keep right on pirouetting.

Natsu beamed. There was a reason he loved this guy's cooking! With Jeryy backing him up, this would be a night to remember.

He stood with his hands on his hips in the center of the cafeteria. Next was music. He bit the inside of his cheek. Gray was a musician. What did Natsu know about music to appeal to Gray? An image of Gray cradling his golden sax in that smoky-aired bar. His eyes closed, his sax was more an extension of his soul than a mere instrument.

Natsu's heart warmed just thinking about how beautiful a Gray was. There were things you could express through music that no words could possibly match. It was as if he had heard the very strings of Gray's heart that night.

He bit his fingernail. Should he find some jazz? That would set the mood, right? But he didn't have any jazz music, let alone something as calming and tranquil as Natsu wanted. He scratched the back of his head. There was nothing to it then. He would have to raid Gray's computer and find something appropriate.

He was just about to head back to Gray's room when his ear perked. He frowned.

"I'm not kidding. You wouldn't believe how awkward it was! We were all just kind of waiting. And Gray and Gajeel just sat there! It must have been like twenty minutes."

"Well, Gray doesn't ever really talk much."

"You're missing the point! This was Gajeel. Gaaaajeeeeel. I thought I'd see a fire made of ice before I'd see that guy sit down with Gray."

Natsu stepped back until he was in Jeryy's kitchen, waving him to be quiet while he listened in.

"Yeah, well you know what happened with Gray. So, I guess Gajeel was feeling bad. I mean you know how he's always talking shit because of what happened with Levi. And after Gray saved them . . . to be suspended like that."

Natsu's jaw hinged open. His eyes swiveled to Jeryy. A lance slashed through his chest. "Jeryy, what happened with Gray?"

The cook frowned, shaking his head. He waved his ladel through the air as he talked. "The bossmen suspended him. Indefinitely, from what I hear."

Natsu whipped his head back and forth. "Indefinitely. What does that mean!?"

"You know," Jeryy scratched his arm anxiously. As much as he loved being the catch-all-info bar man, sometimes it came with a price. "Fired."

Natsu clutched his stomach, feeling dropping out of his frame with the sucker-punch. "What are you talking about!? He saved us! What do you mean!? How could he -" He was yelling. And he didn't care.

His teeth set in a snarl. And the kitchen door nearly broke off its hinges as when Natsu slammed his way through. The entire cafeteria had hushed. All eyes were on Natsu as he stomped, fists-balled, out of the common area and straight for the chief's office.

The chief's door smacked like bone as it cracked into the wall.

The small room was filled with all the lieutenants. Gildarts stood at his desk, his large palms flat on the worn wood. "Natsu we're in the middle of a meeting."

"How could you fire Gray!?" He slashed his hand through the air. "He saved my life!" Natsu pointed a rigid finger at the small Chief Makarov standing atop the desk. "He saved your grandson and his fiance! He saved Juvia!"

"Natsu," Zeref moved quietly to his little brother's side, placing a hand on his shoulder.

But Natsu shrugged him off. "What the hell is wrong with you people!? Gray is a hero," his burning eyes blurred just as his bottom lip quivered. "He's a hero, and you turn around and kick him out."

"Enough, Natsu." Gildarts stared hard at the rooky, commanding.

But Natsu shook his head. "No! I wouldn't be alive to stand here right now if it wasn't for Gray! Neither," he turned to Makarov with disgust, "would your only grandson."

"Natsu! Enough!" Gildarts slammed his fist on the desk, nearly rending it in two. "Zeref, get him out of here."

"Come on, Natsu," Zeref whispered. He tucked a hand under his brother's arm. Half guiding, half pulling, they moved out of the office. "Natsu -"

"Don't touch me!" He thrashed his arm free from his brother. Betrayal clawed hard at his heart. Zeref. He'd never . . . He stared at his brother. "You assholes." He turned, blood boiling. As he stormed down the hall, tears trailed down his cheeks.

* * *

Gray yawned wide, covering his gaping mouth with a hand. What a long day, Gray cracked his jaw before locking his truck. He balled his injured hand as had come a habit of his after surgery. The stitches were set to be taken out next week. Just in time, he mused, thinking of Natsu.

He shifted his shoulders until he felt a pop under his shoulder blades, relieving the constricting tension that had built with the ten-hour surgery he'd been called in for. Musica had been keeping him busy, that was for damn sure.

His old mentor kept prodding at him every time. Urging him to take it on full-time. Gray walked across the silent fire station parking lot just as the sun was giving off its final blood red breath over the mountain tops. It was exhausting work - that was an understatement if any he'd heard.

But, Gray couldn't deny that it filled him up. He'd been empty before Natsu, but even with the life that the pink-haired raucous rook had given him, there was a part Gray didn't even realize was missing. He didn't know it until he was in the back of the ambulance, frantically working around Freed as they had screamed toward the hospital.

It was a purpose. He'd wanted to be a paramedic ever since Ur . . . He shook his head, balling his fist again in his jeans pocket. But being in the hospital, was saving people too. And he could do more under the fluorescent lights than he could ever do as a paramedic. He could see more people through to the very end. He could see them get up again on their own two feet and walk away from death's door and back out into the sun.

He rubbed his empty stomach as he stepped into the fire station. First, he'd check in on Natsu, he thought, then he'd shovel food into his face until he couldn't move. He made his way back to his room, but stood in the open doorway, scratching his head.

Happy meowed from atop the empty bed. "Natsu's not here?" His brow dropped with a frown. "What's that idiot thinking? Didn't I tell him to not wander around too much?" The guy needed his rest. He shouldn't have been up from bed a quarter as much as he was, but Gray couldn't very well keep the energetic, buzzing guy strapped down.

"Maybe he went to the cafeteria. Happy, call me if he comes back." With that, Gray closed the door behind him and made for the noise that the mess hall always was. It was the center of Fairy Tail, where its heart beat at all hours with the tides of on-call shifts.

But, he hooked his hands at his hip. No Natsu. His heart skipped a beat. A knot formed in his stomach. Shit, where was the idiot? Could he have fallen? Gods damn it, what if he fell? Anything like that would be awful on his head. Even the lightest of . . . Gray was running through the station before he knew it.

He'd started off just walking down each hall, but as his heartbeat sped, his footsteps took to the frantic cadence.

"Natsu!" He bit his lip, turning toward the Dragneel room. Every hallway he scanned to find no sign of the pink-haired man. He didn't even knock when he shoved his way into the Dragneel room. "Natsu?"

Zeref turned to Gray on his bed. The raven blinked. What was that look in Zeref's eyes? "Zeref, where's Natsu?"

"He got mad at me."

"Zeref -"

"He has never gotten mad at me before. Ever."

"Zeref, where is he?"

"I - I don't know. He was furious . . ."

Gray flew out of the room, pivoting on the ball of his foot. If he had been frantic up to that point, now he bordering insanity. His heart struck lightning strikes in his chest. Natsu was pissed? He'd gotten his blood pressure up. He'd. Hell. "Natsu? Natsu! Damn it all, NATSU!"

"He's out back."

Gray froze in his place. The small Makarov stood at knee height, clasping his tiny hands behind his back. "Follow the dirt path on the hill above the track. Go to him, Gray."

He didn't have to be told. Before Makarov had even finished talking, Gray was sprinting outside. He burst through the back of the station and into the black of night. It didn't take him more than ten strides to find Natsu.

In the blank, black canvas, a few firefly, candle lit wicks quivered and danced. And there was Natsu. Sitting alone. The trees towered ancient and wise all around him as he sat like a child at their feet. Gray crashed to his knees on the blanket. He cupped Natsu's face in his palms. "Natsu? Are you okay?"

"Gray," wavering sage eyes turned to him.

Gray shook his head rapidly. "You didn't fall or anything right? Didn't hit your head on anything. Didn't -"

"No," Natsu said slowly, his voice somber. The fire that had whipped in the back of his throat had long since died. "I'm fine."

Gray wrapped his arms around him, pulling him tight into his chest. His breaths were still ragged, and they pushed through Natsu's hair. "Gods, you flame-brain, idiot! Do you have any idea how worried I was!? I thought you'd fallen on one of your walks. Or . . . jeez, I didn't know what to think. You scared the hell out of me!"

"Gray," Natsu propped his chin on his love's shoulder. "I heard about how you were suspended."

"Eh? What are you bringing that up for?"

"Gray, you . . . Because of me! I . . ."

"So what?" Gray's shoulders bounced. His lips winged up with a chuckle. "Are you friggin' kidding me!? That's what got you all riled up? Do you know how dangerous it is to get so upset when you've just had a brain injury? You idiot," Gray couldn't help but laugh.

"Your dream -"

Gray let Natsu go, twisting and falling onto the blanket on his back. He covered his exhausted face with the palms of his hands. "I don't care, Natsu. I did what I wanted and what I needed to do. They did what they had to do. I disobeyed Gildarts. He's the chief. That's the way it works.

"And I'd do it again.

"Dreams aren't fixed, you know. They change each and every day."

"But, Fairy Tail and you, paramedic, that was . . ."

"Natsu," Gray reached out with his injured hand and wove his fingers with his man's, "my dream was to be there for someone one day, just like Igneel was there when Ur died. I did what I wanted to do. It's fine, anyway, I'm working for the hospital."

"But-"

Gray brought up his other hand, brushing back pink locks from Natsu's brow. "What is this picnic thing?" Gray tilted his head, his blue eyes shining with the stars and candlelight. "Did you do this for me?"

The pink haired firefighter just nodded his head.

"You are so cute." Gray looked around at the picnic blanket, at the candles that sat in metal trays around its perimeter. At the - he even brought the food in an old picnic basket - damn, this guy was just too much for Gray's heart to take. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, Gray."

"There's no reason for you to be," Gray said simply as he propped up the lid to the basket. The delicious medley of scents that came out made Gray's stomach growl. But, before he allowed himself to touch the food, Gray grabbed Natsu's arm. And squeezed.

"Natsu, it's fine. I'm fine. I'm happy. In fact, I'm better than I've ever been. Now come here and eat with me. You went through all this trouble. You're the sweetest guy I've ever known. Come on." He pulled Natsu to him, giving him a kiss neither would forget.

He felt the fire burn pure inside of him with the touch of his man. He couldn't get the smile off his face even as they kissed.

For all of his past . . .

His life was pretty great.

* * *

Next Chapter: Echoing Songs


	21. Echoing Songs

Chapter 21:

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own any right to Fairy Tail or Ravemaster, nor its characters. They are the sole property of their creator, Hiro Mashima, and publisher. I do not own any right to the intellectual property of D. Grayman. The following story is meant for entertainment purposes only and neither I, the author, nor the forums in which this story is posted expect to or will receive any monetary compensation. Support the original work.

A/N: It's been a while for this story. To all of you who started with me on this journey, thank you for letting me be and continue to be your guide. For all of you joining us for the first time, welcome.

In the time since I last updated this, the world has shown a great mixture of the worst and most divisive humans can be. But in response, there are so many more coming together. That is humanity. We have the dregs, but I want to believe at least that the majority of us care. Love is not some hippy thing. It's really the center of who we are. We hurt. We love.

I hope everyone reading this takes the time to express just how much they appreciate those around them. And I hope, you take the time to calm your mind, away from the news and aggravation. Take some time and think back. Really think back. Find that one memory that is more pure than all others. No matter who you are, you have one.

Make that feeling what gets you moving tomorrow.

Lots of love,

James

See you next week.

* * *

 **Echoing Songs**

Leaning back against the beveled surface behind him, Gray let out a contented sigh. It was his day off, yet he was in the hospital again. Part of the perks of being the Chief of Medicine's go-to guy. Natsu was inside the capsule behind him. The only hyperbaric chamber in Magnolia. And Gray could bring Natsu here as often as he wanted - provided that the hospital wasn't using it.

It was completely quiet. Living in the fire station, Gray didn't quite know how to deal with the silence. But, maybe he didn't need such a noisy life after all. Silence was part of the beauty of the world. Gray had known that ever since he heard the greatest jazz musicians. The king of the silence was Miles Davis. It took talent to play fast, hit ridiculously high notes, or weave through chords like a rushing waterfall, but it was something else entirely to reveal the pure essence of sound. The purity of a note was not from the strength of its forte, but rather from the way it rang clear as a crystal, accented by the hollows of silence as its backdrop.

Maybe it was starting to be that time in his life, as well. There was not much more reason to stay at the fire station. Natsu's recovery was exemplary, and he was sure that hyperbaric treatments would speed it up, still. Indeed, Gray was thinking more and more about getting a small, secluded place up in the mountainside. He could slow his life down and really find what it meant to wake up each day without a fire alarm to startle him out of sleep. More, he would be far away from Fairy Tail, from everything. The fire would come with him, far away from his family. And Natsu.

Running his fingers back through his raven hair, Gray let himself drift in the void of noise, to wade back into the tide that was the sound of his thoughts alone. His gaze drifted slowly over the smooth, bowed surface, of the nearly whale-shaped chamber. Keeping Natsu safe was now something that Gray needed with all his being.

* * *

Inside the hyperbaric chamber, Natsu kept his eyes closed and focused on his breathing. As Gray had told him, he tried to just relax and rest inside what Natsu could only feel was a coffin. It felt strange at first. Gray had explained the way the coffin worked to Natsu as they were driving to the hospital, but Natsu couldn't quite recall it. Something about one-hundred percent oxygen. But, he smiled. He could see those lips move as Gray talked. He could see the way the sun shined so brightly off those pure, sapphire gems.

It was the only thing keeping him together. Though he tried his best to just relax, he couldn't help it. Natsu Dragneel was not made for sitting still. He needed to be doing something. Especially after a week of bed-rest, per Doctor Fullbuster's - Natsu's lips winged up - orders. What he'd give to be able to shove open that coffin and go running. Hell, Natsu tapped his foot idly against the bottom of the chamber, antsy. If he did just that, who was going to stop him? Gray was in good shape, but Natsu could out pace him without breaking a sweat.

But Natsu pursed his lips, before taking one between his fangs. That would all be if he could even walk straight, without his head spinning.

"Hey, you in there! Relax already!"

"I am reeeeelaaaaxing!" Natsu huffed. The tempo of his tapping foot increased. Gray, the damn bastard. He would probably have no problem sleeping in this coffin. He'd meditate all the time, back at the station. He liked this sort of thing. As his thoughts surged back to Gray, front and center, how could Natsu possibly even hope of relaxing? He was consumed by a fiery need that was burning in his veins. No, he wouldn't shove that coffin lid open and run for it.

He'd shove that coffin lid open, and pin Gray to the ground.

"And why's your heartbeat going up? Calm yourself."

Like he could calm himself. Now, all he could think about was tearing the white lab coat off Gray's shoulders. Ripping his shirt off. Tearing his pants off. Snaking out his tongue, Natsu glided it over his sharp incisors. That, as far as Natsu was concerned, was the best way he could heal. Gray was the best thing for his mind and body. He was an antidote. One week. Gray had promised. One week. One day down.

Six to go.

* * *

"That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"It was like being buried in a coffin that was thrown into the ocean." Natsu grumbled as the hyperbaric session ended and he climbed out of the chamber with Gray's assistance. He blinked, his eyes smarting as they tried to adjust to the brightness of the room. Though . . . he felt . . . better. He turned his head. No swimming. He glanced at Gray, to find crystal blue eyes watching him closely.

"You need to learn how to just chill. I don't think I saw your heartbeat actually get to a resting state! What were you thinking about?"

"You." Natsu's voice was low. He felt good. Really good. And it made him just want to - their lips crashed together. His tongue plunged. He devoured.

"See." Gray pulled back, his chest thundering. He huffed for breath. "Hyperbaric therapy is good for you." He swallowed, his mind instantly overwhelmed so easily. Natsu took him again, this time grabbing Gray's hips in his hands. He pulled them together until Gray fit perfectly in the curves of Natsu's sculpted torso.

"Ahh, so this is how a doctor heals his patient."

Gray shoved Natsu them apart, the sudden appearance of his brother like an icicle through his system. "Lyon."

The white-haired firefighter flicked two fingers to his brow and then to the air in a mock salute. "At your service. Though, I have to say, I'm relieved that my doctor isn't so _hands-on_."

Natsu still had his hands hooked on Gray's hips and he eyed Lyon with a not so subtle line of irritation. Finally, he decided to screw it. Taking Gray by force, he bent him over, diving in and stealing a long, burning kiss.

Flushed, Gray struggled to push Natsu away. "Natsu!" He stood with his chest heaving, staring dead-eyed with his absolutely amused brother. He was never going to live this down. "What do you want, Lyon?"

"What? A guy can't just hear that his brother is here and want to go pay him a visit?"

"Not without an ulterior motive, no." Natsu tried again to engage Gray, wrapping his arm around his waist and leaning in to nibble at Gray's ear. The raven-haired doctor swatted at him like he would an over-excited puppy.

"Clearly, it works wonders."

"What?"

"I was wondering about the hyperbaric chamber."

"This isn't 'cuz of that," Natsu mumbled, his teeth teasing the rim of Gray's earlobe.

"Clearly," Lyon repeated, laughing this time. Whether it was seeing Natsu so active after his injury or - hell, Lyon knew it was really that embarrassed brother of his. By the look of it, Gray had no clue how to handle Natsu. The pale-skinned doctor's cheeks were bright, cherry red. Eventually, he gave up trying to wriggle free from the pink-haired dragon's grasp. Perfect. Gray needed something he couldn't handle. Gray, more than anyone, needed to be swept off his feet. For too long had he been trapped inside his own head, calculating and logical. It was Gray's defense mechanism, to never get hurt again, but Natsu was simply overwhelming that shell. Lyon couldn't wait to see what would be in front of him when Gray's shell was completely melted away.

"Why are _you_ heeeere, Lyon?"

Oh, he definitely couldn't wait. He wanted to see his brother again - the brother that was free, back when they were children. "Like I said, I was wondering about the hyperbaric chamber. How did your first session feel, Natsu?"

"Boring," Natsu replied, his breath hot on Gray's ear. "But I do honestly, feel a lot better right now. I don't know if it's psychosomatic." Natsu blinked. He'd been having such a hard time thinking of words like that over the last week. Every time he had tried to form the words in his mouth, he felt as if he had lost his mind to a stormy sea. Now, it just slipped off his tongue like normal. He couldn't help but smile at that, and squeeze Gray tighter in his arms.

"You're thinking about Juvia." Gray managed to recapture a little of his composure, though shivers raced down his spine at the feel of Natsu's warm breath against the back of his neck.

"I'm that transparent, huh?"

"You brothers aren't very good at hiding what you want."

Gray blinked at Natsu's words, but he couldn't help but smile. He reached up weaved his fingers through Natsu's silky pink hair. "I guess we aren't after all. I've already scheduled Juvia's first session for tomorrow morning. What," Gray's smile grew crooked at Lyon's expression, "I am her doctor, after all."

"Thanks. Just don't be doing," Lyon brought his finger up and made small circles in the air, signaling to the lovers' embrace, "Whatever this is."

"He won't. Now it was nice seeing you, Lyon, but can you leave so I can kiss my boyfriend?"

"I didn't seem to be stopping you before."

"Okay," Gray spoke finitely, ending their teasing. "Lyon, get back to Juvia's room. Natsu, you're coming with me. We are going to go get dinner then go home." He nodded firmly, stepped forward, and past his brother. Lyon and Natsu just looked to each other before bursting out, laughing.

* * *

"You really didn't have to do that in front of Lyon!"

"You really didn't have to be that embarrassed! We are dating, after all. Lyon knows it. That's what boyfriends do, right?" Natsu balanced the Chinese takeout onto his lap after climbing into Gray's truck.

"Yeah . . . but not in front of my brother."

"Why not?"

"Because, it's weird!"

"Kissing me is weird?"

"You know that's not what I'm saying." Gray turned over the engine and rolled out of the parking lot.

"A doctor who's embarrassed by something as simple as kissing? What's the world coming to?"

Stopping at a red light, Gray slid Natsu a sideways glance. "Just give me an egg roll. He reached out when Natsu pulled a roll out of the bag.

"Ah," Natsu jerked back the egg roll, out of Gray's reach. "You know what you have to do to get it."

Rolling his jaw, Gray stared at Natsu flatly. Finally, he snatched Natsu's shirt in his hand, and with a balled fist, tugged them together. They nearly lost their Chinese food on the floor as their lips smacked together.

"The light's green, Gray."

"Give me my egg roll."

"Here you go." Natsu held it out with a smile.

Stuffing Natsu's egg roll into his mouth, Gray turned back to the road out his front windshield.

* * *

Sucking in a bunch of noodles, Gray watched with amazement as Natsu ate with utter abandon. How the heck did the guy stay so damn fit? And delicious? And beautiful . . . eating like that? Sitting cross legged in his bed, Gray slowly made his way through his chow mien while Natsu devoured the cashew chicken, ginger eggplant, sweet and sour tofu, and a huge scoop out of the fried rice.

Stuffing kung pao into his mouth, Natsu looked up to find those watchful eyes. He held out the kung pao, cocking a brow, but when Gray held up a palm, Natsu shrugged and upended the rest down his gullet.

"It's good to see that you've got your, erm, appetite back. I guess that hyperbaric session really did help. It's such a great thing, the pressure inside the chamber is higher than you're used to in your normal day. It allows your body to really open up and oxygenate. And the more oxygen your cells can absorb, the stronger they'll be."

"Whatever you say, doc," Natsu spewed half-eaten mushroom and beef as he replied.

"So, we'll go back tomorrow afternoon."

Swallowing hard, Natsu frowned. "You didn't say anything about me going in that coffin again."

"I'm saying it now. You'll go in every day for sixty minute sessions." When Natsu scowled at him, Gray added, "You do want to get better for a week from now, right?"

"Hmph," rolling his eyes, Natsu shoveled a large scoop of fried rice past his teeth. "Fine. It's so boring though."

"Why don't we practice your rhythm, then? If you still want to learn how to dance . . ."

"Dance?" Natsu blinked a couple of times. It had been so long. So much had happened. Had he really just gone to Gray to learn to dance? To learn . . . for Lucy. Ha. Natsu helped clean up after dinner, and settled in next to his boyfriend. It's funny how just a few weeks could change so much.

"Yeah, remember, your timing? Counting with the leading beats of a song like we practiced?"

"Yeah," Natsu repeated back, "I remember. Alright," sitting up, Natsu snatched Gray's phone off his nightstand. "What should we listen to? What should we -" His brow dropped a little as he found an odd playlist on Gray's phone's music library. Come to think of it, that same playlist was on Gray's laptop back when he was searching for jazz for their picnic yesterday. "What's 'World's Circle'?" It was starred, but in a sub-directory, separate from all the other playlists, He looked up and was quickly taken aback by the stun in Gray's blue eyes. "I'm sorry . . . is it -"

Shaking his head, Gray just shrugged. "It's a playlist of Ur's favorite songs."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have."

"It's fine." Weaving his arms around Natsu, Gray pulled him close to his chest and laid back into his pillows. "I named it after two songs. _'He's Got the Whole World In His Hands'_. My mother used to sing that to me as she tucked me into bed. And, ' _All my Life's a Circle'_. Ur's favorite. Words ended there that night. Natsu adjusted himself until he fit against the curve of Gray's embrace. They said more, shared more, just by their touch.

As Natsu began drifting off to sleep, he could just hear a soft humming behind him. Natsu grabbed the hand over his chest, giving a soft squeeze before slipping into his dreams.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: One Week**


	22. One Week (Later)

Teach Me To Dance

Chapter 22: One Week

Disclaimer: I do not own any right to Fairy Tail or Ravemaster, nor its characters. They are the sole property of their creator, Hiro Mashima, and publisher. I do not own any right to the intellectual property of D. Grayman. The following story is meant for entertainment purposes only and neither I, the author, nor the forums in which this story is posted expect to or will receive any monetary compensation. Support the original work.

 *****Warning: This story is rated M for content of a graphic sexual nature between two consenting men. If you are underage or are offended by such material, do not read on.*****

…

To the rest of you -

Enjoy.

* * *

A smile graced his lips that morning, just as it had every morning that week. Slowly, he slid his fingers over the strong arm wrapped around his chest. That strong arm led to a hand over his chest. Natsu quite literally held his heart in his hand. Never - he never thought he'd be here, lying in the arms of another with complete contentment and peace. Gray's smile grew still as warm lips laid a soft kiss on the bare nape of his neck. He weaved his fingers with Natsu's over his heart.

"Good morning." Natsu's voice was low and nearly gravelly in the morning. He always sounded ancient, like a powerful, mythical deity. So different than he was during the day, but Gray loved that side of him in a way he couldn't put words to. There was a time when the dragon slumbered; there was a time the dragon's energy dipped below the charismatic firefighter ready to face the hottest blaze head-on. And Gray was one of the few people who got to see that side, see that person. He'd have been up for an hour - Gray had learned over the short time they had been sleeping together that the man woke as the sun did. And yet, he would always remain in that same place. Natsu would never move, he would keep his arms tight around Gray, and he would remain in that just-woken trance. And he would -

Gray swallowed as he felt the passion of the lips turn from a morning embrace to a sultry, fiery need. Every morning, the fire in that touch was getting hotter and hotter. Natsu made his way around Gray's neck, his lips marking every inch of the exposed skin along the way. He turned Gray slowly in his arms, rolling until he could bury his lips in the vale of his collar. Gray shuddered, but just relaxed into the drawing touch. There was, in Gray's personal opinion, no better way to wake up. He laid there, overwhelmed, consumed, as life washed waves through his limbs.

"Easy there." Gray's eyes finally parted over a smirk. He was forced to reach down and grab Natsu's wrist before his hand managed underneath Gray's waistband. "There's still one more day." One more day. Gray honestly didn't know whether to be excited or anxious. Though, those two may really be sides of the same coin. Overwhelmed, was the state Gray had come to be familiar with throughout his entire day. From their mornings together and even to the time they were separated during the day, Natsu was ever-present in the forefront of Gray's mind. There was no other; nothing else that drove him day-in and out. It was a feeling he was suddenly forced to get used to, and while its wonders elated him and carried him through the day, that sudden dependence on another was boggling.

Pulling Natsu's hand back up to his stomach, Gray rubbed his thumb over the dragon's knuckles. "You're too impatient."

"How couldn't I be?" Natsu tucked his over Gray's shoulder. "I need you."

"You need to wait."

"What I need is to take you right here, right now, and never let you get up from this bed again."

"It sounds like your head's worse than I thought," Gray teased. This was one thing he never even dreamed about with a partner. Natsu, Gray had began to realize, had quickly become his best friend. "Maybe we should wait another week."

"That's not funny."

"I don't know. In your health's best interest, unless you are able to think calm and rationally, you might not be recovered enough from your head injury."

"You know," Natsu roughly twisted Gray until he was above him, pinning him down on the sheets. Gray stared up with amusement into those beautifully, powerful, emerald eyes. "There's nothing you can say that will make me wait any longer. I can't take anymore!" Natsu dived down, nipping at Gray's neck. The raven-haired man struggled underneath him, but Natsu held him in place. "Besides, when it comes to you, Gray, I don't think I'll ever be able to be rational." He snaked out his tongue, tasting the smooth pale skin. Over the collarbone, down defined pecs, to an inviting ni—Natsu's eyes lit with a lightning strike as he felt the jolt race through Gray's frame. "Sensitive?"

How could he not be? Gray's heart was already racing. His breaths were fast and airy. His mind was foggy, lulling Gray with a siren's call to give in to his desires. Natsu's breath was hot on his skin. His tongue flicked playfully over Gray's nipple. Again. And again. He looked to Natsu who grinned back at him with such a devilish grin. He would be devoured. The thought struck him as a hammer on anvil. He'd lose himself to the man above him.

Clenching his teeth, Gray desperately pushed back at every need of his body. Every cell in his soul was burning, driving to just give in. He swallowed, forcing his control. He grit his teeth. Anything to distract from the consuming flame that Natsu was spreading with passionate kisses down his abs. Natsu pecked, caressed, savored, all of Gray's torso, moving down, moving down. He'd managed to make it to Gray's navel before the raven bolstered the slightest wind of self control. He pushed up at Natsu, forcing Natsu to roll off of him.

"Oh, you're no fun." Natsu laughed, his hand laying over mountainous abs that moved with his quickened breaths.

Gray couldn't help but stare at them, stare at him. He swallowed again. The wind was quickly fading. He forced himself out of the bed, nearly jumping to his feet before he could succumb to his baser desires.

Natsu just rolled over onto his stomach, supporting his chin on a palm. That devilish grin was still there. "Tomorrow, Gray. Don't you dare try and run from it, now."

Gray put his hand over his trumpeting heart after he managed to get dressed and escape his room. That truly was a mythical creature in there. Dangerous beyond measure. His heart wouldn't slow down. He tried to calm his breathing, but he couldn't. He just couldn't. It wasn't until he made it safely into his truck that, finally, he managed to collect himself. How close had he come to taking Natsu then and there? It was too soon, he knew that as a doctor. He knew Natsu's head needed more healing time. At least on more day. At least . . . tomorrow. Gray shook his head, placing his palms down on the morning-cooled dashboard of his truck.

He stared there, his eyes closed, sitting alone in the empty parking lot. He stayed completely motionless until he managed to gather some semblance of his reason. Tomorrow. He managed to drive to the hospital without incident, which may have been a miracle, because Gray couldn't focus on anything but where his thoughts were leading him. Snaking his tongue out over his bottom lip, Gray nodded slowly as he headed into the hospital's lobby.

He found the chief of medicine in the lounge, sipping a steaming cup of tea while lazily drifting over the morning's newspaper.

"Good morning, Gray."

"I need a favor."

Musica blinked, dropping his paper to inspect his old student. It was a first. The student-doctor he had known had never dropped his cool. And yet, here he was, years later, completely and utterly, disheveled. "And that would be?"

"I need you to call me tomorrow morning. Before seven."

At that, Musica's brow quirked. "Call you?"

"Right," Gray nodded.

"Ohhh-kay? Gray are you alright?"

"I'm good - great," Gray's face broke in an unburdened smile. His blue eyes lit. "Fantastic. So you'll call me. Excellent." Gray quickly walked back to the door. He put his hand on the doorframe and looked over his shoulder. "Oh, good morning!"

Musica was left dazed. He'd dropped the paper on the coffee table and stared blankly at the empty doorframe. That was . . . weird.

* * *

The next morning, Natsu lay in bed, a grin stretching from ear to ear. That smile had not diminished since the moment he woke. Today was the day. Today was _the_ day! He couldn't honestly believe it. So badly, he just wanted to wake Gray up, wanted to get the day started! Hell, Natsu bit his lip, scanning over the smooth, pale shoulder. If he just moved a little, he could startle Happy enough to do the job for him. His tongue teased the corner of his mouth as he continued his morning ritual of listening to the soft breaths in and out of those inviting lips. The metronome was hypnotic, and Natsu could feel himself nearly swaying back and forth as his entire world became just the breaths filling Gray's lungs. Sighing, Natsu brought his head back down to the pillow, enjoying the soft feel of Gray's skin against his cheek.

There was no way he could bring himself to wake that man. So, even as his nerves jittered and his body nearly vibrated with his anticipation, Natsu laid still on the bed and waited for the sun to rise. Like a child ready for a car trip to an amusement park, Natsu willed himself to wait.

How was he going to do it? Natsu rolled his bottom lip between his teeth as he listened to the Gray's breaths and just thought. Was Gray going to initiate it? Or should he make the move? The problem of coming off too eager was long since lost. Should he take Gray gently? Should he ravage him? Or should he just let the flow take them? That's all he could do in the end, Natsu decided. As much as Gray had filled his dreams over that last week, and as much time as he spent imagining this day, all he could really do was just let the day take him away.

Gray for his part remained with his eyes closed, listening to Natsu fidget behind him. He'd been up for nearly ten minutes and he couldn't help the joy of feeling Natsu's anticipation. It was like a parent waiting and listening as their children woke on Christmas morning. The fact that that was a completely odd thing to think about then, never quite crossed Gray's mind.

It was then that Gray's phone went off.

Natsu groaned, feeling his entire good mood shatter with each ring of the phone.

Gray reached out to the nightstand, faking a groggy answer as he put his phone to his ear. "Musica? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Are you sure th - alright. Yeah, I'll be there in twenty."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Natsu nearly growled, glowering at Gray as he sat up in bed. "Today's -"

"Obviously, I know what today is, flame-brain." Gray tried his best to hide is amusement behind a tired mask. Getting out of bed, he made for the closet.

"This isn't fair!"

"I'll be back, Natsu." Gray fished his arms through a polo shirt and then his legs into a pair of jeans. "We weren't going to be doing anything first thing in the morning, anyway."

"Like hell we weren't!" Happy yowled at Natsu's distress, hopping off the bed. He flicked his midnight blue tail through the air, indignant as it walked off to find a quiet corner of the room.

"Nothing I can do, Natsu." Coming back to the side of the bed, Gray fiddled with a button of the polo near his throat at he leaned over to kiss Natsu. "I'll be back when I can."

Natsu's glare could have burned holes through the door as it closed. He nearly twitched in bed. "You've got to be kidding me," Natsu repeated, this time for himself, under his breath. "What am I supposed to do now?" He was antsy, with a maelstrom of pent up energy. Today was supposed to be the day! What the hell? What the helllll?

He considered going for a run, just to spite Gray. Droopy-eyed bastard. You can't get someone all excited like that and then bolt out the door! He thought about hitting the gym hard. But, in the end, he went for a slow walk around the borders of the fire station. Just him, the chilled morning air, and his burning energy that had no outlet.

When he sat in the cafeteria, sulking with his chin on the table, even Jeryy's cheerful morning banter couldn't cheer Natsu up.

"What's got ya down pink-buddy?"

Forcing out a breath of air through his nostrils, Natsu didn't even lift his head from the table. "Nothing."

"What happened? You and the stripper have a fight?"

"No."

Since the cafeteria was all but empty that early in the morning, Jeryy twisted a chair around opposite Natsu. He hooked his elbows over the chair's back, in front of his chest. "What's up? What did he do?"

"He didn't do anything."

Cocking his head at an angle, Jeryy laughed. "Yeah, sure sounds like nuttin'. Talk to me, kid. Jeryy's shoulder is wide open."

"I don't need a shoulder."

"Well nobody needs a shoulder, but then again," Jeryy tapped his cheek with an index finger, "everyone does need one sometimes."

"It's nothing. Gray got called into the hospital this morning."

"And?"

"That's it!"

"Well, that's his job, Natsu. Just like a firefighter, he's always on call."

"I know that."

"So lay it out for me. What has you so upset?"

"I'm not upset."

"Yeah, and I'm not a cook."

"It's just, today . . ."

"What's so special about today."

Sighing, Natsu mumbled, "nothing."

"Okay. That's it." Jeryy stood abruptly. "I'm going to go make you up a big ol' plate of nuttin' and then you're gunna feel betta. Got it?" He didn't wait for a reply, instead bee-lined for the kitchen and disappeared.

"Stupid hospital." Natsu continued to mumble for his own benefit.

* * *

Gray didn't get back until just before noon. Natsu remained sitting at his table in the cafeteria the entire morning, the only difference now was that he was surrounded by empty plates. "Come on, Natsu."

"Gray." The salamander immediately perked up, but then just as fast fell again when Gray continued.

"Let's go to the hospital."

"What?"

"For your hyperbaric therapy."

"What are you even talking about? What about today!?"

"There's still plenty of time, Natsu. An hour more is not going to kill you."

"You don't know that."

Rolling his eyes, Gray hooked his hand under Natsu's arm, tugging up from his seat. "Just come on. The faster we do this, the faster we can do . . . Just come on."

Natsu sulked more than a little as he begrudgingly followed Gray into his truck. He knew he shouldn't have. He knew Gray just wanted to help him. And he sure as hell knew that he wasn't exactly attractive while pouting like a spoiled brat. Though, it was starting to sink in that maybe Gray didn't want today to happen. Natsu had been feeling well enough days ago, but Gray insisted that they keep to his promise of a week. Was it just Natsu that needed him so badly? Did Gray not feel that burning need to hold him? Natsu stared out the window sullenly.

"You okay, flame brain?"

"Of course I'm not! How could you even ask that? Do you . . ."

"Do I, what?"

"Nothing."

"Just be patient, Natsu. We'll be there in a little bit."

"Stupid hyperbaric thing. I don't want to do this today! I don't want to go sit alone inside that damn coffin in what might as well be the morgue in the basement of the hospital! The hospital . . ." Natsu frowned, continuing to look out the window. "This isn't the way to the hospital."

"No?" Gray nonchalantly tipped back a water bottle at his lips. He didn't dare look at Natsu. He just remained staring straight ahead at the red light before him.

"What - where are we going?"

"Huh, I wonder." Gray turned onto a northbound street.

"Gray."

"Do you realize how thin the walls are at the station? They may as well be made out of construction paper."

"Gray."

"Hmm?" The raven gave him an amused sideways glance, unable to hide his amusement any longer. It glinted in the blue crystals of his irises.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll just have to wait and find out."

It took an hour and a half to climb up the narrow switchback roads that wove up the mountainside. Gray just hummed along as Bob Seger drifted out his truck's speakers, lulling him into a peaceful lull just as the spanning, ancient trees overhead swayed in utter peace. The cool, fresh mountain air breezed through the cab's open windows, filling their world with the energy of life. Natsu had given up about an hour before when he couldn't coax even a hint out of his partner. But as they continued to climb higher and higher into the trees, leaving the city far behind, Natsu felt a whole new purpose filling his body. Out here, it was just the two of them.

Finally, Gray pulled off the main road and headed up a snaking path that weaved through the trees. Where they stopped, Natsu could never have prepared for.

He stepped out of the truck, gulping, before his mouth hung wide. Idyllic was the first word that popped into Natsu's head. Tucked far back into the mountainside, among the towering trees was a single row of log-styled cabins. Though they were clearly cabins, they were more beautiful homes far away from the bustle of everyday life. Gray pulled a couple of duffel bags out of the bed of his truck and then met Natsu at the grill. He weaved his fingers with Natsu's tugging him along. "Are you just going to stand there? Don't you want to see the inside?"

The house's rustic cabin look did not stop at the wooden finishings on the outside. The inside was everything a dream in the woods could be. Beautifully stained wooden floors stretched from the entranceway. Soft, plush carpets lay near a couch and loveseat tucked by a stone hearth. The walls of the chimney climbed with cobblestone up into the second floor. Brass framed paintings of the beauty of the world just outside hung on the walls.

Warmth. That was what Natsu could use to describe the entire home. It was perfect. It invited him in with dark, welcoming tones from the strained wood to the crafted furniture. Everything about the house was embracing.

"Well? What do you think?"

"I . . . don't understand."

"What don't you understand?" Gray dropped the duffels by the door, taking both of Natsu's hands in his. "I said one week. It's been a week."

"What is all this?"

"This . . . is my home."

"Your . . ." Natsu, blinked, wide-eyed.

"Yeah. Well, mine and Lyon's. Ur left it to us."

That's what it was, Natsu realized, staring back into the living room again. The warmth. It was more than just the colors and decor. The warmth was memories. There was love in this house. "It's beautiful. This," Natsu laughed a little, "must win over any guy you bring here."

"You're the first one I've brought."

"Gr-"

Natsu's voice was caught in his mouth as Gray's lips crashed with his. The passion hit Natsu as a breaking wave, nearly knocking him off of his feet. But Gray's arm was supportive, holding him up, and close, wrapped around the small of his back. Gray pressed Natsu back against the door, their tongues entwining around each other.

After what seemed like minutes, Gray pulled back, panting. His lips winged up. "Sorry. I'd meant to take it slower but I can't."

It was Natsu this time who conquered. He took Gray, feeling the warmth of Gray's lips, the warmth of his mouth. He took in the taste of his man. And he let it wash over him. If before, that wave had hit him, now he was quickly falling underwater. Gray stepped back and grabbed Natsu's hand, wordlessly pulling him behind.

They climbed the stairs quickly. As they made it onto the second floor, they were wrapped in each other's embrace again. They stumbled down the hall, lips only parting to breath. In a drunkily choreographed danced, they nearly bounced off the walls as they surrendered any control and reason they had left. Though they made it down the hall, most of their clothes did not.

Gray managed to guide them through an open bedroom door, and pushed them both onto the waiting bed. They fell onto the silky sheets. His bare chest heaved; his heart on full throttle. Natsu bit him, first gently, then the desire-fueled haze drove him further. Gray shuddered under his tongue.

For the first time, he allowed himself to touch Natsu. He slid his hands around the bulging, cut muscle of his back. If he had slipped just for a moment during that entire week, Gray had known he would never have been able to stop. But now, he left that all behind and let himself have all that his heart desired.

Natsu's fingers were hot on his skin as they slid down into the waistband of his underwear. His hands kneaded soft skin. Exploring. Feeling all there was to feel. Bringing them back up to Gray's hips, the pink-haired dragon rolled them both until he was on top. He stared down at Gray, his normally already fiery eyes were a burning inferno. He slid down Gray's right side, hot breaths heavy against Gray's exposed skin.

And then.

Gray's eyes shot wide. His hand smacked over his mouth as he jolted with wordless exclamation. Natsu's fiery tongue slid along the long white scar marring his leg. He looked down to find a dragon's blazing, green gaze meet his. Between his teeth, Natsu trailed his tongue all the way up Gray's scar. From ankle up to his thigh. Shocks of overwhelming electricity lanced through Gray. All he could do was lay there. He shivered. Natsu continued up. Higher and higher.

Until, he reached the leg of Gray's blue trunks. He ginned mischievously as he took the hem between his teeth, pulling it up, and exposing the skin underneath. Gray was unable to do anything; he just stared deep into that emerald blaze that never left him. Pulling the leg of the trunks up as far as he could, Natsu opened his mouth, letting the cotton snap back down. Instead, his hands raced up under Gray. His burning fingers hooked on the waistband. Gray managed to lift his hips just enough. The cotton slid down, exposing all he was to that burning emerald fire.

Natsu pulled the trunks all the way off, flinging them across the room. Returning his hands underneath his man, he caressed the soft globes in his palms gently, just as his tongue traced the white scar at Gray's groin again.

Unable to bear it any longer, Gray wrapped his arms around the torso of pure muscle and pulled Natsu up, tight against him. He skated his teeth against Natsu's exposed neck. And he managed to get out from under Natsu while he was weakened from the love bite. Immediately, he dove down to the straining fabric of Natsu's skin-tight boxer briefs. Splitting his fingers along the rigid pole underneath the pink cotton, Gray smiled wickedly. Where Natsu had been quick to rid Gray of his underwear, Gray wasn't in such a rush. He wanted to savor this moment. Slowly taking in all that lay underneath as he unwrapped his present.

Through the cotton, Gray wrapped his lips around the hot sex. He tasted Natsu for the first time, the head rush of scent nearly overwhelming him. His tongue left long wet spots on the tented fabric. Under his chin, he gently kneaded Natsu's package in his palm. Tracing from tip down, Gray savored each inch through the boxer briefs. Until, finally, he couldn't handle having any barrier between them. Natsu thrusted his hips up as Gray hooked his fingers inside the pink waistband. As soon as Natsu was free, Gray climbed back on top of him, pressing their excitement together.

He relished ever muscle he felt tighten and constrict underneath him. Natsu was the perfect male, Gray thought hazily as their tongues writhed around each other again. He was more than any of the Greek gods could even have dreamed to be. Gray pressed down into him, grinding his hips, just as Natsu thrust up.

He felt Natsu against his lower stomach, he felt the rigid excitement, hot against his skin. Their lips parted as Gray backed off. He bent over, parting his lips, and took Natsu in one long dive. Tears strung in his eyes, but Gray could only ever care about the quivers that ran along Natsu's body at the touch of Gray's tongue. He wrapped his hand around the base of Natsu, pumping in synch as his head bobbed. As he worked, his tongue wrapping around the rigid pole, he kept constant eye contact with Natsu. Just as he saw the flicker in Natsu's eyes, he suddenly let go.

His fiery mate's neck strained as he pushed up, his mouth open in a wide 'O', just at the edge. Then his head fell back into the sheets again as Gray attacked lower. He ran his tongue along Natsu's balls, kissing the smooth skin. He licked. He sucked. He gently massaged the orbs between his fingers. Gray smiled easily, Natsu's eyes starry. He kissed up Natsu's straining length again. Light touches, feathery, keeping him just on the precipice. Still massaging Natsu's sac, Gray's lips followed higher, kissing and marking the skin along Natsu's drawing v.

"Graaaay!"

Gray smiled wider, looking up at Natsu over the bulging mountains of his abs and pecs. He was running his hand back through his own hair, gripping it, absolutely overcome by the pleasure of Gray's touch.

Unable to deny himself any longer, Gray went back to Natsu's dick, ringing his finger at the base. He kissed the head lovingly, glancing up at Natsu one last time. He waited until Natsu finally opened his eyes to meet Gray's before he dived down, taking all of Natsu again. He swallowed, the muscles of his throat constricting all around Natsu.

And that was all it took.

A wracking jolt ran along Natsu's body underneath him. He watched the powerful abs contract. Natsu's hips bucked. And his throat was filled with Natsu's heavy load. He continued to suck, spurt after spurt wracking Natsu, until he got every last drop out. Licking his lips, Gray sat up, grinning.

It took Natsu a minute to fully recover and fall back to Earth. But when he did, he wasted no time. He started at Gray's nipples. His tongue flicked out, just as he pinched the other between his fingers. He continued, tweaking the sensitive skin until Gray was moaning underneath him. He played with him, prey, weak under Natsu's touch. Each twist brought a new shudder. Each flick of the tongue brought a gasp.

Deciding he couldn't wait any longer, Natsu left Gray's chest and immediately took Gray's full length into his mouth in a mirror of Gray's earlier technique. As he worked his mouth around Gray, his hand massaged just under his silky sack. He pressed into the the skin and Gray was forced to thrust up into Natsu's mouth. He nearly choked, but he quickly overcame it as he watched the ecstasy fall over Gray underneath him. It didn't take long before he tasted all Gray had to give.

Their chests heaved, sweat leaving their skin glistening as they lay on the bed, Natsu on top of Gray. Rolling off to the side, Natsu splayed out on his back, breathing heavily. Glancing to his side, he met Gray's piercing blue eyes.

When Gray's lips bent, they both began to laugh.

* * *

Next Chapter: A Weekend in the Woods


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